Family members' narrated experiences of communicating via video-phone with patients with dementia staying at a nursing home

Abstract

We studied the experience of family members who communicated via video-phones with elderly demented patients who were either staying at a home for temporary respite care or living in a nursing home. The study was based on qualitative data from seven interviews. The interviewees each had three or more months' experience with a video-phone. The open interviews were transcribed. Content analysis showed that video-phone conversations made the relatives of patients at nursing homes more involved in the caring process and that conversation via the video-phone was a different way of communicating. Video-phone conversations with demented patients were in some cases more focused and of better quality than face-to-face conversations. In most cases the video-phone conversations required the assistance of staff at the home in order to be meaningful. Video-phones have the potential to become useful tools for family members caring for elderly relatives.