Observational studyInternational journal of nursing studies2022
Characteristics of elderspeak communication in hospital dementia care: Findings from The Nurse Talk observational study.
Observational study in International journal of nursing studies, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Communication strategies for delivering personalised dementia care and support: a mixed-methods systematic review and narrative synthesis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Attention to Elderspeak: A Call for Dignity-Affirming Communication in Advanced Nursing Care.Clinics and practice · 2026Review
- Elderspeak from the perspective of hospitalised geriatric patients-insights from a cross-sectional study using a mixed-methods design.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Critical Insights On Enhancing Patient-centered Care to Improve Multivitamin Adherence After Bariatric Surgery: A Response to van Es et al.'s Observational Study.Obesity surgery · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Rejection of Care Behaviors and Pain and Delirium Severity in Hospital Dementia Care.Innovation in aging · 2023Article
- Elderspeak communication and pain severity as modifiable factors to rejection of care in hospital dementia care.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundElderspeak communication is typically viewed as patronizing and infantilizing by older adults and can lead to resistive behaviors in persons living with dementia. Little is known about the presence of elderspeak communication in hospitals in the United States. Understanding this phenomenon in the hospital setting is needed in order to improve hospital dementia care.
objectivesThe purpose of the Nurse Talk study was to (1) describe attributes of elderspeak use in hospital dementia care and to (2) determine what characteristics are associated with nursing staff use of elderspeak communication with hospitalized patients with dementia.
designA cross-sectional observational study design was used to collect and analyze audio-recordings of nursing staff during care for hospitalized patients with dementia.
settingThree hospital units in one Midwestern university hospital in the United States.
participantsA convenience sample of 53 staff nurses and nursing assistants that provided direct care to 16 patients with mild or more severe dementia recruited from October 2019 through mid-March 2020.
methodsEighty-eight care encounters were audio-recorded and coded for elderspeak communication using the Iowa Coding of Elderspeak scheme to determine the frequency and characteristics of elderspeak communication. A linear mixed effects model was used to determine what characteristics were associated with elderspeak and the frequency of elderspeak use by nursing staff to hospitalized patients with dementia.
resultsOver a quarter (28.7%) of all nursing staff speech directed towards patients with dementia constituted elderspeak and nearly all (96.6%) care encounters included some elderspeak. Particularly common attributes of elderspeak were minimizing words and mitigating expressions, childish terms and phrases, and collective pronoun substitution. A statistically significant interaction was identified between staff role and age (95% CI: -0.02, -0.00, p = .008) in predicting the frequency of elderspeak use, indicating that elderspeak was used more often by older staff nurses, whereas the age of nursing assistants remained constant across elderspeak use. Statically significant effects for delirium and length of stay were also demonstrated. Elderspeak use was 12.5% higher with patients with delirium (95% CI: 0.02, 0.23, p = .025) and increased 1.5% for each additional day the patient with dementia was hospitalized (95% CI: 0.00, 0.03, p = .035).
conclusionsElderspeak is present and pervasive in the acute care setting. Interventions targeted towards older staff nurses and nursing staff from hospital units that care for patients with delirium and longer lengths of stay are needed. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: This study identified that nursing staff are frequently using elderspeak (infantilizing speech) with hospitalized patients with dementia. @claireshaw_phd @IowaNursing.
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