Cargando…

Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners

Objective: Purpose in life tends to decline in older adulthood and it is thought that intact cognitive functioning is required for purposeful living. Thus, it is likely that individuals may perceive older adults who are experiencing cognitive declines associated with dementia as having a reduced sen...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wynn, Matthew J., Ju, Catherine H., Hill, Patrick L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8415023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34484054
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703478
_version_ 1783747892208467968
author Wynn, Matthew J.
Ju, Catherine H.
Hill, Patrick L.
author_facet Wynn, Matthew J.
Ju, Catherine H.
Hill, Patrick L.
author_sort Wynn, Matthew J.
collection PubMed
description Objective: Purpose in life tends to decline in older adulthood and it is thought that intact cognitive functioning is required for purposeful living. Thus, it is likely that individuals may perceive older adults who are experiencing cognitive declines associated with dementia as having a reduced sense of purpose. Biases such as these may influence how individuals, especially care partners, interact with those with dementia. Method: This study examined how sense of purpose changed following a dementia diagnostic appointment for both the person receiving a diagnosis and their care partner. This study also explored how each individual perceived the other member of the dyad’s sense of purpose. Older adults (47 care recipients and 75 care partners, 57% female; M(age) = 68.5 years, SD(age) = 12.0 years) provided self- and other-report ratings of sense of purpose before and after their appointment at a specialized memory clinic. Results: Overall, both care recipients and care partners’ sense of purpose declined following a dementia diagnostic appointment [t(85) = 7.01, p < 0.001]. However, when comparing self-reports and other-reports of purpose, care partners reported that care recipients experienced a lower sense of purpose in life than the care recipients reported about themselves. Conclusions: Care recipients and partners reported less purpose in life following their dementia diagnostic appointment. Care partners may hold certain biases regarding sense of purpose toward care recipients. These findings can inform future work regarding how care recipients and care partners can plan purposeful lives following a dementia diagnosis.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8415023
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84150232021-09-04 Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners Wynn, Matthew J. Ju, Catherine H. Hill, Patrick L. Front Psychol Psychology Objective: Purpose in life tends to decline in older adulthood and it is thought that intact cognitive functioning is required for purposeful living. Thus, it is likely that individuals may perceive older adults who are experiencing cognitive declines associated with dementia as having a reduced sense of purpose. Biases such as these may influence how individuals, especially care partners, interact with those with dementia. Method: This study examined how sense of purpose changed following a dementia diagnostic appointment for both the person receiving a diagnosis and their care partner. This study also explored how each individual perceived the other member of the dyad’s sense of purpose. Older adults (47 care recipients and 75 care partners, 57% female; M(age) = 68.5 years, SD(age) = 12.0 years) provided self- and other-report ratings of sense of purpose before and after their appointment at a specialized memory clinic. Results: Overall, both care recipients and care partners’ sense of purpose declined following a dementia diagnostic appointment [t(85) = 7.01, p < 0.001]. However, when comparing self-reports and other-reports of purpose, care partners reported that care recipients experienced a lower sense of purpose in life than the care recipients reported about themselves. Conclusions: Care recipients and partners reported less purpose in life following their dementia diagnostic appointment. Care partners may hold certain biases regarding sense of purpose toward care recipients. These findings can inform future work regarding how care recipients and care partners can plan purposeful lives following a dementia diagnosis. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8415023/ /pubmed/34484054 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703478 Text en Copyright © 2021 Wynn, Ju and Hill. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wynn, Matthew J.
Ju, Catherine H.
Hill, Patrick L.
Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title_full Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title_fullStr Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title_full_unstemmed Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title_short Sense of Purpose Following a Dementia Diagnostic Appointment: Comparing Self- and Other-Reports of Care Recipients and Care Partners
title_sort sense of purpose following a dementia diagnostic appointment: comparing self- and other-reports of care recipients and care partners
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8415023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34484054
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703478
work_keys_str_mv AT wynnmatthewj senseofpurposefollowingadementiadiagnosticappointmentcomparingselfandotherreportsofcarerecipientsandcarepartners
AT jucatherineh senseofpurposefollowingadementiadiagnosticappointmentcomparingselfandotherreportsofcarerecipientsandcarepartners
AT hillpatrickl senseofpurposefollowingadementiadiagnosticappointmentcomparingselfandotherreportsofcarerecipientsandcarepartners