Making Care Decisions for Cognitively Impaired Parents;Final rept

摘要

This qualitative hermeneutic/phenomenological study was conducted to answer the question, 'What is the experience of making care decisions for cognitively impaired parents.' A purposeful sample consisted of 22 adult offspring aged 35-64 (14 daughters, 6 sons, 2 daughters-in law) who self-identified as primary decision-makers for cognitively impaired parents aged 73-91. To ensure trustworthiness there was: prolonged engagement (3E hours) with the data using ATLAS.ti software: auditing of decisions for themes and meanings by outside parties$ bracketing by the researcher$ and saturation of codes and themes. From 19 categories derived from 67 codes a reiterative decision-making process emerged which included five themes, revisited in varying order: Finding a Voice$ Professing Fidelity$ Speaking for Speechless$ Correcting Course$ and Expressing Gratitude. It becomes vital to help adult offspring through the 'Finding a Voice' phase so that their parents can benefit from early treatments currently available.