Cognitive-communication difficulties are often associated with dementia and can impact a person’s ability to participate in meaningful conversations. This can create challenges to families, reflecting the reality that people living with dementia rarely have just one regular conversation partner, but interact with multiple family members. To date, there is limited evidence of the impact of changes in communication patterns in families. A family systems approach, with foundations in psychology, can be used to explore the impact of communication difficulties on multiple different family members, including the person living with dementia and potential coping strategies used by individuals, together with the family as a whole. A systematic review of primary qualitative research was conducted to identify and examine research exploring communication and interaction within families living with dementia. Studies were identified through a comprehensive search of major databases and the full text articles were subject to a quality appraisal. We conducted a thematic analysis on the literature identified to consider the role of families in supporting communication for people with dementia. The searches identified 814 possible articles for screening against the eligibility criteria. Nine articles were included in the final review. Three major themes emerged from the analysis of the included studies. 1) ‘Identities changing’ reflected how interactions within the family systems impacted on identities, 2) ‘Loss’ reflected the grief experienced by families due to changes in communication. 3) ‘Developing communication strategies’ highlighted strategies and approaches that families affected by dementia may use organically to engage in meaningful interactions and maintain connection. Only one study explicitly used a family systems approach to understand how families manage the changes in interaction resulting from dementia.
The findings may usefully inform the clinical practice of Speech and Language Therapists in terms of communication strategies and coping mechanisms that may be advised to facilitate connection in families living with dementia. Further research utilising a family systems approach to exploring communication in dementia may help to support the implementation of family-centred practice as recommended in policy.