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Certain barriers to communication do exist for older adults in long-term care situations, a critical realization for any professional serving in the long-term care industry. Vision and hearing loss are challenges, as are cognitive changes such as reduced processing speed and working memory.
Stroke and Parkinson’s disease also make communication a challenge for older adults. Plus, the very fact that the residents had to move from their homes and away from significant others who served as communication partners poses barriers to their effective communication with caregivers in their new communities.
Overcoming Barriers
- Person-Centered Care – Health care providers should take the time to learn about residents’ backgrounds, history, and family. Families can aid in this process by providing recorded autobiographies, memory boxes, and photo displays.
- Ignoring Talk – Include the residents in discussions about their care, to make them feel valued and appreciated.
- Intergenerational Communication – Care staff may have ageist views and stereotypes of older adults that result in modified communication with them, and the resulting elderspeak has negative effects on the residents. Caregivers should refrain from using intimate terms of endearment, asking closed questions and suggesting correct answers, and substituting “we” for “I.”
- And many more......