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Qualitative analysis reveals practical mealtime challenges faced by caregivers for individuals with dementia, highlighting the need for tailored support.
Purpose: The current study aimed to explore the practical challenges encountered by family caregivers when assisting community-dwelling people with dementia during mealtime. Method: Using a descriptive qualitative design, 18 family caregivers of people with dementia who experienced feeding difficulties were recruited from the Neurology Outpatient Department and Memory Clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University between November 2024 and May 2025. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results: Data analysis identified four interrelated categories describing the day-to-day practical challenges encountered by caregivers during mealtime assistance: functional decline, problematic eating behaviors, communication breakdown, and resistance to care. Conclusion: Mealtime assistance in dementia care involves multifaceted, practice-level challenges that extend beyond nutritional management. Findings provide an empirically derived framework to guide clinical assessments and inform targeted, skill-based caregiver support.
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Jiang et al. (2026) studied this question.
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