Managing critical incidents in grocery shopping by community-living people with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Aim: People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain in their ordinary housing and continue to use public space despite increasing disabilities. The aim of this study was to discover and describe problematic situations and critical incidents that took place when people with AD performed the ordinary outside-home activity of grocery shopping and how these were met by them. Methods: Individual interviews (n = 12) and participant observations (n = 8) with six informants were performed and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results: The findings are presented in six categories and each category describes different critical incidents and actions used to meet these. The categories were: (a) Remembering to bring things when leaving home, (b) Finding the way to and from the grocery shop without getting lost, (c) Finding a way through traffic when not feeling safe, (d) Finding objects when organization is disrupted, (e) Choosing when a lot of objects and products are available, and (f) Finding a method to pay when payment opportunities are restricted. The core category, “A challenging and unstable process of meeting critical incidents in grocery shopping”, was characterised by reflections and creativity to achieve relative harmony in each critical incident. Conclusions: In conclusion, it is important that relatives and professionals take into account relevant actions to help people with AD coordinate with their environment.

Key words::

• activities of daily living
• critical incident technique
• dementia
• grounded theory
• place integration

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all informants for participating in the study and sharing their experiences. This research was financially supported primarily by the Health Care Sciences Postgraduate School at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Financial support was also provided by Swedish Brainpower, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, and the regional agreement on medical training and clinical research (ALF) between Stockholm County Council and Karolinska Institutet.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for content and writing of the paper.