Is the frequent death of residents in aged care facilities a significant cause of grief for residents with mild dementia?

摘要

A number of sources of grief, such as loss of home and independence, and loss of loved ones, have beennidentified as impacting on residents of aged care facilities and nursing homes. Little has been reported aboutnthe effect of the death of fellow residents. This study utilized semi-structured interviews to investigate thenviews of both residents with mild dementia and staff, about the impact of the death of residents onnindividuals and the residential community. Neither group considered the death of a resident to be a majornsource of grief. Reasons for this offered both in the data and the literature were considered. Mostnresidents did not think that they had close relationships with their peers. Isolation, which may benstructurally imposed by single rooms, disease, or medication-induced apathy, or consciously chosen as andefence mechanism or for other reasons, is likely to be a contributing factor.