Soutien familial et orientation spatio-temporelle chez une personne âgée atteinte de la maladie d’Alzheimer.

Abstract

The present study focuses on family support and spatio-temporal orientation in elderly people with Alzheimer's disease. We have carried out our study among caregivers of elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the geriatrics department of the central hospital of Yaoundé. In this study, we question family support in accompanying elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Our objective is to understand how family support impacts the spatio- temporal orientation of the elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Using our inclusion and non-inclusion criteria, we used an interview guide with four family caregivers of elderly people with AD. Data collection was made through semi-structured interviews, which made it possible to collect the speeches from the four participants in our study. Then, the analysis of these speeches was carried out using a case-by-case thematic analysis and a transversal thematic analysis. The results from these analyzes were interpreted based on Feil's validation theory. At the end of these analyses, it appears that there was family support because family caregivers carry out the daily tasks of elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease, ensuring their protection so that they do not wander off and all four participants support their parents with love. Support from family caregivers also reduces stress and anxiety in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. But this family support is not complete because there has been no change in the spatio-temporal orientation of these elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease due to the lack of use of validation techniques of Feil which allows Alzheimer's patients not only to reduce stress and anxiety, but to also orient themselves in time and space for as long as possible.