Caregivers' Reactions to the Physical Appearance of a Person in the Final Stage of Dementia as Measured by Semantic Differentials

Abstract

The semantic differential (SeD) technique was applied to 158 caregivers from a nursing home in the northern part of Sweden. The questionnaire contained fifty-eight bipolar scales of adjective pairs and the interviewees indicated then-reactions to a described picture of a severely demented person: A factor analysis revealed three dimensions; an ethical one, an esthetical one, and one about the person's own feelings. The fifty-eight scales were mostly rated toward the negative poles. The severely demented person was rated as painful, apathetic, suffering, weak, afraid, sad, cold, dark, rough, and ugly.

Four years later a comparable group of caregivers (n = 93) answered a revised questionnaire containing the 26 SeD scales with factor loadings > .50 for the picture of the severely demented person. The result was nearly identical and alternative interpretations are discussed.