Background:

Transitions from home to long-term care facilities are critical and emotionally challenging for people living with dementia. Although person-centred care is widely advocated in dementia care, how staff experience and enact person-centred care throughout the transition process remains insufficiently synthesised.

Purpose:

This study explored staff experiences in implementing person-centred care during the transition of people living with dementia from home to long-term care facilities.

Methods:

Seven databases were searched, yielding 10 eligible studies. These studies were analysed using qualitative content analysis, guided by a person-centred care framework. The transition process was conceptualised into three phases: pre-transition, mid-transition, and post-transition.

Results:

Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Four overarching themes with nine subthemes were identified, reflecting staff experiences in implementing person-centred care during the pre-transition, mid-transition, and post-transition phases, as well as barriers encountered across the transition process. The nine subthemes were (1) pre-transition professional competence; (2) pre-transition facilitating participation and shared decision-making; (3) post-transition professional competence; (4) post-transition interpersonal communication; (5) post-transition commitment to work; (6) post-transition supportive organisational systems; (7) post-transition understanding and respecting the values of people living with dementia; (8) post-transition facilitating participation; and (9) post-transition empathy.

Conclusions:

This meta-synthesis highlights that implementing person-centred care during transitions to long-term care is a dynamic and relational process. Both individual staff and organisations experienced attitudinal shifts towards person-centred care across the transition. Importantly, staff are required to implement person-centred care principles, particularly during the mid-transition phase when people living with dementia move into facilities.

Review Protocol Registration:

CRD42024622455.