Emotional safety of people living with dementia: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Emotional safety is particularly important for people living with dementia. Although there have been efforts to define this concept, no systematic review has been performed. Aim: We aimed to identify and analyze the knowledge available over a 10-year period regarding the emotional safety of people living with dementia to concretize this phenomenon. Methods: Seven databases were searched. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies published between November 2007 and October 2017 were included. Study selection and critical appraisal were performed by two reviewers. A content analysis of the qualitative data and a descriptive analysis of the quantitative data were performed. Results: In total, 27 publications (n = 26 studies) were included. The following five main categories were identified: (1) “emotional safety as a primary psychological need”; (2) “emotional safety in the context of disease-related, biographical, demographic and socioeconomic factors”; (3) “inner conditions and strategies”; (4) “outer conditions and strategies”; and (5) “emotional safety as a condition”. Conclusion: People living with dementia appear to be particularly vulnerable to decreased emotional safety. Research should focus on achieving a comprehensive understanding of their emotional safety needs.