AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION OF ADULT RESIDENTS OF A LONG-TERM-CARE HOSPITAL AS PERCEIVED BY THEIR CAREGIVERS

Different groups of caregivers (nurses, orderlies, professionals, stud ent orderlies and volunteers) who were in frequent interaction with re sidents from a long-term care hospital were interviewed with a nominal group process. They were asked to identify concrete situations of com munication in which residents with no trouble communicating, residents with aphasia and residents with dementia need to express and/or compr ehend a message. A total of 196 statements were recorded and coded usi ng a qualitative approach into different categories of communication a cts specific to daily routine of care and treatment. The results show that communication in daily life situations varies little in relation to the different residents. However, residents with language disorders are perceived to be less involved in generic communication acts than residents with no communication disorder. They also demonstrate that t he perceptions of communication of the different caregivers vary. The results are discussed in relationship to the conception of an evaluati on instrument for language-impaired long-term care residents, which wi ll help in determining intervention as well as the objective evaluatio n of its effects.