Powerlessness in Terminal Care of Demented Patients: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Five caregivers in dementia care were interviewed about their ambivalent feelings toward spoon-feeding a severely demented patient. The caregivers were first inclined to recommend the use of a naso-gastric tube, but after a thorough discussion of the ethical aspects of this subject, they became more and more reluctant to use tube-feeding. Although tube-feeding was regarded as an easier way to provide nourishment, spoon-feeding was preferred because it provides more human contact and love. The act of spoon-feeding could be interpreted as a symbolization of love.