AIM: To develop a format of the behavioural criteria of ethical care with dementia so as to support nursing pedagogy and ethical practice in dementia care. DESIGN: Literature review, group workshop and Delphi method. METHODS: This project underwent three stages of literature review, initial construction and Delphi method from June 2020 to June 2023. Nine databases were searched with key words for articles relevant to ethical care with dementia that were published before 2022. Johns Hopkins Evidence Level and Quality Guidelines were employed for quality appraisal. A process of highlighting, comparing, merging and categorising was employed by two reviewers for data synthesis. The original behavioural criteria of ethical care with dementia were constructed by team members based on literature review and group discussions. Fifteen experts were invited and two rounds of consultation were completed. Statistics were generated for comprehensive evaluations. Revisions were made with expert suggestions to obtain a final format. RESULTS: A total of 3299 titles and abstracts were initially retrieved, 242 full text articles were reviewed and 15 articles were included, with evidence type of I to V and evidence level b. Ten ethical principles and 12 categories of ethical issues closely relevant to dementia care were achieved by syntheses. An initial format of the behavioural criteria was developed for the Delphi method. Modestly acceptable correspondence was obtained by two rounds of expert consultation. The final format of the criteria included 10 ethical principles, 37 ethical issues and their corresponding cases, scenarios and three modalities (the recommended, the obscure and the false) of ethical care behaviours with dementia. Therefore, this format of the case-based narrative behavioural criteria could be useful for training the nurses' competencies of ethical reasoning and setting the professional boundaries of nurses' ethical care behaviours, which could facilitate nurses in their pedagogical and clinical practice of ethical care with dementia. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTIONS: No patient or public contributions.
Pan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.