• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.746-764
• /
• 2022

Communication breakdown has been mentioned causing a heavy burden for dementia caregivers. This study aims to inspect and structure the process and results of communication between people with dementia and their caregivers. The impeding/facilitating elements of communication are also extracted. Interviews with 21 of dementia care experts about the direct and indirect experiences of communication with people with dementia were analyzed based on the grounded theory. Results show that combination of the cognitive and communication decline of the people with dementia, confusing environment and caregivers' inappropriate attitude and lack of communication skills leads to communication breakdown and relations severance. Minimal contacts and task-oriented conversation results in conflicts and people with dementia's increasing agitation, anxiety and violent behaviors while understanding of individuality and listening with heart lead to recovered lucidity in the state of serious dementia, recovered pleasure and voluntary participation in the daily activities for people with dementia. Core paradigm was defined as 'Person Centered Care through relation formation'. There are 4 types of communication with people with dementia : partnering, patronizing, conflicting, avoiding types. Researchers suggest that Person Centered based communication skills be educated and trained for dementia caregivers.