Guidance on the use of therapeutic lying among caregivers of people with dementia by Speech and Language Pathologists

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundTherapeutic lying (TL) is often used in people with dementia (PWD) who present challenging behaviors. In 2006, the creation of a guideline protocol about how to use TL, demonstrates that it requires trained professionals. Considering TL as a communication strategy, speech and language pathologists (SLPs) can play a fundamental role in guiding caregivers regarding its use. This study aims at verifying if SLPs guide caregivers of PWD to use TL to manage difficult situations and its association with their knowledge and training on the technique.MethodData collection took place through an online questionnaire that obtained sociodemographic information from Brazilian SLPs and asked them to answer the following questions: Have you ever heard about TL? Were you taught about TL in your academic education? Have you ever guided family members or caregivers of PWD to use TL? The results were presented descriptively and the association between the frequency with which the participants have guided caregivers to use TL and their knowledge about the subject was verified through Chi‐square Test with a significance level of 5%.ResultThe final sample consisted of 72 individuals. There was a predominance of female (100%), specialization (48.6%) as the highest educational level and the southern region of Brazil (45.8%). SLPs who claimed to have heard about TL comprised 23.6% of the sample, only 8.3% said they had been taught about TL during academic education and almost half of the professionals (48.6%) reported having already guided caregivers of PWD on the use of TL. There was no statistically significant association between the frequency with which the participants have guided caregivers to use TL and the fact they have already heard about the concept of TL (p = 0.07) or have already received training on it (p = 0.36).ConclusionThe study showed that many professionals guide caregivers of PWD about the use of LT, however it happens without technical knowledge to do it properly. The work highlights the importance of including this subject in the academic education of these professionals.