痴呆高齢者と彼らを支える家族等に対して,彼らが看護婦(士)にどのような役割を期待しているのか,とりわけ,現代医療の中で患者の権利を擁護するための重要な概念でもあるインフォームド・コンセントに関する看護婦(士)の役割をどのようにとらえているのかを調査した。その結果,痴呆高齢者であれ,その家族あるいは親族,知人であれ,看護婦(士)に期待することは同様に,患者を励まし支えながら,正確に医療技術を適用し,快適な病院環境を配慮することであった。また,高齢者は「お任せ医療」というイメージがあるが,実際は看護婦(士)によるインフォームド・コンセントを積極的に支持していた。さらに,痴呆高齢者とその家族等の中のかなりの者が,医療に対して何らかの不満をもっていることも明らかになり,痴呆高齢者とその家族等が期待するケアを提供するとともに,彼らが納得できるような説明を医療・看護の各場面で実施することが看護婦(士)に求められる役割であると確認された。(英文抄録：In this study, investigation was made to explore desired nursing roles expected by dementia patients and their family. We focused on nursing roles of attending staff nurse especially regarding the consideration of patient's informed consent. Informed consent is a significantly important issue for these patients in order to protect their rights while being treated in medical facilities. The research findings are that both dementia patients and their family expected nurses to apply correct medical techniques in providing nursing care, to create a comfortable and pleasant hospital environment, and also to provide emotional support to the patients. While elderly patients are often thought to be dependent totally on medical authorities to make any kinds of treatment decision including choosing necessary medical procedures. The research result indicated that more patients are actively interested in learning about informed consent. The result also provided a strong evidence in dissatisfaction among patients and their family regarding their current medical treatment due to lack of informed consent given to them. These findings confirm that nurses are expected by patients and their family to play a major role in providing patient-oriented informed consents on their medical procedures at various stages of patient's treatment.)