3.2. Qualitative Results
ADRD, dementia, delusions, Dementia, Alzheimer
SETTLE, SAID, ALZHEIMER
The qualitative analysis led to the emergence of three themes, which contextualize and further support the abovementioned quantitative results: (1) learning new skills about caregiving; (2) gaining knowledge about ADRD; and (3) benefits for the dyad. These three themes are expanded upon below with representative quotes.The first theme was related to caregivers learning new skills as part of the SCP Plus. Skills included CGs’ changing their approach to supporting activities of daily living. For example, one caregiver shared:“Well…[name of a senior companion] had a good suggestion for me that was perfect. …because Mom would have all these clothes all in her room and she was still pretty much dressing herself and [name of a senior companions] told me to start to kind of remove some of those clothes, but to start putting her outfits together, pants and shirt, you know, and then, you know, put it all together and that’ll make it easier for her [care recipient] to continue to dress herself. And so, yes, I learned that from her. I learned too some little things, especially when she was moving towards her dementia things… I say they like to ‘fiddle with things.’ So I learned some little traits to have her to do to occupy her fingers and that would would settle her down. So I learned some of those things as well.”Similarly, another caregiver shared:“It turned around a lot of things that I was doing that I found out I was doing incorrectly as far as taking care of Mom. For instance. Uh, trying to make her remember things when she couldn’t, and I learned in the I learned in the program that that was not the thing to do. It was more or less to allow her to remember it the way that she remembered it and not try to force her to remember something that she couldn’t. And so. But I yeah, that was just one of the things that stood out with me. So there were several things that that I that it helped me with that I changed in taking care of her that helped out a whole lot. I mean a whole lot it. It was a a lifesaver. The program was a lifesaver.”Additionally, one caregiver reported changing their approach to handling challenging behaviors of the person with ADRD:“A lot of things cleared up and a lot of things learned. How to handle a person with dementia, Alzheimer’s. You know, sometimes it takes for you to walk through their delusions for them to get to a better place, like even with that.”A second theme was related to education, particularly related to knowledge about ADRD. For example, one caregiver shared:“Ohh man ohh it to be honest with you it was very eye opening about a lot of misconceptions about dementia and and honestly not just the misconceptions, but just some things that’s just not known., I mean it, it was so much in that that you learn about. Dementia. Alzheimer’s that you either ever knew. If it wasn’t that you never knew the the myth and the misconception of it”Another caregiver shared that they learned about other symptoms of ADRD. She shared, “You know, we we’re talking about Sundowning. And stuff like that. At night, you know, she [care recipient] was changed completely, completely changed. And I said yeah, that that that happens with me. I told her [Senior Companion] since she completely changes at night.” (Caregiver, Baton Rouge)The final theme was related to the caregivers’’ perspective that the SCP Plus had benefits for the dyad. For example, one caregiver shared:“I do feel like when we did that [SCP Plus], that it helped us both…I want to say it helped us better bond, to talk, to deal with grandmother…It helped us both to be able to talk to somebody else…that made a difference…It made a difference for her and I to be on the same page at the same time talking about Grandmother.”Similarly, a caregiver shared that “she (the Senior Companion) learned very much from the training”. (Caregiver, Baton Rouge)