Effects on activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living independence in patients with Alzheimer’s disease when the main nursing caregiver consciously provides only minimal nursing care

[Purpose] We investigated whether the activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living independence in patients with Alzheimer’s disease are positively affected by the main nursing caregiver consciously aiming to provide only minimal nursing care. [Participants and Methods] The participants comprised 105 patients (men: 46, women: 59, mean age: 80.1 ± 6.7 years). We conducted interviews to establish whether the main nursing caregivers consciously aimed to provide only minimal nursing care (care consciousness), and participants were thus divided into two groups. Hyogo Activities of Daily Living Scale scores of the groups with and without care consciousness were compared by dementia severity. [Results] In patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease, activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living independence in the group with care consciousness were significantly higher than in the group without care consciousness. In patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease, instrumental activities of daily living independence was significantly higher in the group with care consciousness than in the group without care consciousness. [Conclusion] Thus, positive effects on the activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living independence are observed when the main nursing caregivers consciously aim to provide only minimal nursing care to patients with Alzheimer’s disease.