Organizational, intra‐ and interpersonal factors contributing to person‐centred care in long‐term care facilities for people with dementia

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPerson‐centred care (PCC) is seen as the golden standard for dementia care. PCC is characterized by care and support that are in line with the needs, preferences and capacities of people with dementia. Previous research showed that PCC has beneficial effects on the quality of life of people with dementia and improve healthcare professional’s working conditions. Within long‐term care PCC seems to hinge on different factors on integrated levels of care provisioning. The current study aims to provide healthcare organizations and policy makers with more insight into the modifiable factors that contribute to PCC for people with dementia living in long‐term care facilities. To this end, we aim to identify whether and which intrapersonal factors (care professional’s attitude towards dementia, attitude towards technology use, and working experience), interpersonal factors (learning potential of the workplace, vision of care, transformational leadership, emotional job demands and resources), and organizational factors (learning climate of the organization, small‐scale setting and amount of residents per care professional) contribute to higher levels of PCC.MethodData were derived from the fifth assessment of the Living Arrangements for people with Dementia (LAD)‐study, which had a cross‐sectional design. The study was performed amongst 58 long‐term care facilities providing clustered care for people with dementia under the Chronic Care Act (WLZ) in the Netherlands. Care professionals completed an adapted version of the ‘Person‐centred care questionnaire’ (PCCq) to assess the level of PCC in the participating facilities. We performed multilevel analyses, controlling for clustering effects.ResultIn total 606 care professionals participated. On the intrapersonal level, care professional’s attitude towards dementia and working experience contributed significantly to PCC. Interpersonal factors that contributed significantly to PCC were possibilities of learning during day‐to‐day work, transformational leadership, and job resources. Organizational factors were not found to significantly contribute to PCC in the model.ConclusionSeveral intra‐ and interpersonal factors, rather than organizational factors, contribute to person‐centred care.