What is elderspeak? Basiclly, it’s baby talk that most adults would not think of using in conversations with other adults. As a hospice volunteer in nursing homes, I noticed elderspeak being used often. For example, “Hi, Mr. Smith. I hope you’re enjoying your day? Did you have a good dinner?” might become a singsong version of this: “Hey, Handsome. Are you behaving today? Did you eat all your dinner veggies like a good boy? You did? That’s my baby!” Imagine what the average adult would think about being addressed in this manner. But some nursing home staff members, caregivers, and others think nothing of speaking to residents in this way.
This research on elderspeak focused on the perspectives of certified nursing
assistants (CNAs) who frequently spend time with older residents. The goal was to learn more about the intent and
conditions under which elderspeak is used. Participants who were interviewed
included 26 CNAs who worked in long-term care facilities. It should be noted that half
of the CNAs reported that elderspeak is more appropriate with individuals with
dementia and that others believed elderspeak was always inappropriate.
These were the
findings regarding the intended purposes of CNAs using elderspeak:
1)
Make residents
feel more comfortable.
2)
Make
caregivers seem friendlier.
3)
Help
residents better comprehend verbal communication.
4)
Increase
the likelihood that residents cooperate during caregiving tasks.
Based on these findings, more
staff education is needed that incorporates previous research results. For
example, elderspeak research reported in Behavior Therapy states that resistiveness
to care has been linked to communication by staff using elderspeak. This study examined
videotapes of nursing home residents with dementia interacting with staff.
On a personal note, I was raised in the Jim Crow South and was taught that children should never call adults by their first names. For many African Americans, including adults addressing other adults, this was not only a practice of respect, but mandatory in society under certain racial conditions. After I received my driver’s license at sixteen, I felt proud when I was told I could start picking up my grandmother from her job as a cook at a segregated white school.
Imagine my distress when I arrived at the school and saw young children calling my grey-haired grandmother “Lou.” She allowed it because she needed the job, but words cannot describe the humiliation in her eyes when she saw me and realized I had witnessed how she was treated there. That night, my mother told me I couldn’t pick up my grandmother from work again. For many older African Americans, being called by their first names without their permission by younger adults is connected to painful memories of historical injustices.
Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming
Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available
in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and
offline booksellers.
Hospice
and Nursing Homes Blog
