The meaning of living with dementia and disturbing behaviour as narrated by three persons admitted to a residential home.

AIM: The aim of our study was to illuminate the meaning of living with dementia and disturbing behaviour, as narrated by three persons admitted to a residential home.

BACKGROUND

Living with dementia and so-called disturbing behaviour in an institution involves interaction with care providers and fellow residents and poses a challenge to all who are involved.

METHODS

We asked the head nurses at a residential home to select persons with dementia and disturbing behaviour who were willing to be interviewed and able to communicate verbally. We performed 10 informal conversational interviews with three persons. The interviews were transcribed into text and interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutic method inspired by Ricoeur's philosophy.

RESULTS

The findings indicate that the meaning of living with dementia and disturbing behaviour, as narrated by three persons admitted to a residential home, is about being surrounded by disorder, being trapped by restriction and being set aside, as well as about being included. The findings are interpreted as a collapse of relations to self and others intertwined with occasional episodes of togetherness. This is reflected on in relation to the literature on homelessness and at-homeness and loss and maintenance of personal and social selves.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The view others have of the person with dementia and of disturbing behaviour determines the nursing care given. Taking the residents' personal history and actual context into account, disturbing behaviour may be seen as a way persons with dementia express their story and maintain their self.