Health Behavior Changes In Spouses Of People With Dementia Based On Life-Course Model Of Risk Factors To Dementia

Objective:Based on the life-course model of risk factors to dementia,this study aims to explore the cognition and attitude of spouses of people with dementia to dementia and dementia risk factors,understand the cognition and attitude of spouses of people with dementia to adopt healthy behaviors to reduce the risk of dementia,and explore the influencing factors that hinder or promote the change of health behaviors of spouses of people with dementia.The process of health behavior change of spouses of people with dementia after their spouses were diagnosed with dementia was analyzed to provide evidence for spouses of people with dementia to adopt health behavior to prevent dementia.Method:In this study,a descriptive research method was adopted and sampling strategy of maximum difference purpose was adopted.Twenty spouses of people with dementia with two or more risk factors were selected as research objects in the memory clinic of a Grade-III Class A hospital in Changchun from December 2021 to July 2022.Data were collected in the form of one-to-one semi-structured interview.The interview process was recorded,the recording was transcribed into text and imported into Nvivo12.0 software.The topic analysis method was used to extract the theme.Results:Through in-depth interviews and comprehensive analysis of 20 spouses of people with dementia,the healthy behavior changes of spouses were refined into three core themes: "priming-leaping-coping: becoming a smart caregiver","struggling-trudging-silence: the process of self being "swallowed" ",and"multi-dimensional role deconstruction and reconstruction under the Confucian thought of" Benevolence ".1."Priming-Leaping-Coping: becoming a smart caregiver,consists of three sub-themes(1)Priming-start taking care of self-health status(2)Leaping-sensitive disease risk perception and control(3)Coping-formation of the new normal healthy behavior pattern2."Struggling-Trudging-Silence: the process of self being "swallowed",consists of three sub-themes(1)Struggling--denial and contempt(2)Trudging-reduced self-efficacy(3)Silence-the failure of struggle3."Multi-dimensional role deconstruction and reconstruction under the Confucian thought of Benevolence" includes three sub-themes(1)A sense of responsibility and obligation-"Life is testing me"(2)The breakdown of the original structure of life(3)Differentiated aging attitudesConclusion:The influence of dementia on spouses’ health behavior change process is directional,showing both positive changes and negative changes in the life course of jointly coping with the challenges of dementia.At the same time,under the influence of traditional Chinese culture,spouses always remind themselves of their caring responsibilities and obligations,and need to balance multiple roles such as partners,caregivers and parents to effectively maintain positive health behaviors.1.Spouses of people with dementia need to improve their cognition of dementia risk factors,and effective health education should be adopted to improve public dementia-related health literacy.2.The adoption of healthy behaviors by spouses of people with dementia to prevent dementia is influenced by many factors,such as motivation,cognition,social support,family culture,etc.In the future,it is necessary to further explore the mechanism of health behavior change in this group of people,and develop spouse-centered family joint intervention strategies.3.The process of spouse health behavior change can be divided into positive and negative development directions.Future intervention needs to grasp the node of each change process,strengthen the promoting factors in the positive development stage and weaken the hindering factors in the negative development stage,so as to provide targeted reference for the development of intervention programs in the future.