Motivating and discouraging factors with being a support contact in the dementia care sector: a grounded theory study

Background: People with dementia need different forms of assistance as the disorder progresses. In Norway, support contacts work as ‘paid friends’ and their role can be compared with respite carers or voluntary workers' in other Western countries. Support contacts may be helpful within the dementia sector, especially in the early stages of the disorder, though they are rarely used.

Aim: The aim of this study was to find out how the support contacts perceive their work.

Method: Grounded theory, a qualitative method, with interviews of 19 participants (14 women and five men aged 40–75 years) during 2009–2010, from 12 local authorities.

Findings: This study describes the participants' motives for becoming a support contact and their encouraging and discouraging experiences while being a support contact, expressed as four sets of opposites; flexibility vs rigidity; being compensated vs feeling used; affiliation vs abandonment; and satisfaction vs lack of satisfaction.

Conclusion: Greater flexibility, adequate compensation, a sense of affiliation and satisfaction, together with potential for building relationship with families, are factors that will encourage dementia care supporters to continue with their work.