RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Decision-Making and Communication Capacities of Older Adults with Dementia: A Population-Based Study
Kazuko Mitoku*, 1, Setsu Shimanouchi 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 17
Last Page: 24
Publisher ID: TONURSJ-8-17
DOI: 10.2174/1874434620140512001
Article History:
Received Date: 9/1/2014Revision Received Date: 29/4/2014
Acceptance Date: 2/5/2014
epreprint12/5/2014
Electronic publication date: 13/6/2014
Collection year: 2014
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The present study assessed the decision-making and communication capacities of older adults with dementia who required assistance and care and measured the subsequent changes in these capacities. Of 845 older adults who received long-term care between April 2003 and December 2004, about half of them without dementia were excluded and the remaining 448 were finally included in the analyses. These individuals were completed follow-up for assessment for two years. The data were obtained from the Long-Term Care Insurance Certification Committee for Eligibility in Gujo City. A total of 73.7% of people with dementia were somewhat capable of making decisions (32.4% were reported as being “always capable”; 41.3% were reported as being “sometimes capable”). A total of 93.7% were somewhat capable of communicating with others (78.3% were reported as being “always capable”; 15.4% were reported as being “sometimes capable”). The results indicate that older adults with dementia can participate in their own care decisions, even if they require assistance and support in their daily lives. The present study shows, however, that baseline decision-making capacity declined to about half what they were after one year and to about one-third of what they were after two years, suggesting that earlier efforts are needed to ensure that the preferences of individuals with dementia are reflected in their care.
