Dementia

Objective To identify common difficult decisions made by family carers on behalf of people with dementia, and facilitators of and barriers to such decisions, in order to produce information for family carers about overcoming barriers.

Design Qualitative study to delineate decision areas through focus groups and complexity of decision making in individual interviews.

Setting Community settings in London.

Norwich: a ‘coffee morning’ initiative aimed to give people with dementia and carers the ordinary social opportunities they were missing. It has succeeded and also brought many further benefits, as Judith Farmer explains

Community services for carers of people with dementia can assist in relieving caregiver burden and delay the institutionalisation of the person with dementia. Under some conditions, however, engagement with dementia services may produce unintended negative consequences, resulting in increased confusion and a reduction of agency for carers.

Day care, as a type of care in between residential care and home help, has been available for several years, and is often referred to as an adequate alternative form of care for people with dementia. The goals of Swedish day care are to create a meaningful day for participants, offer family caregivers respite, and provide care for persons with dementia. The aim of this Swedish study was to describe day care clients with dementia problems over a 12-month period, and to discuss what distinguished those who discontinued day care from those who stayed with it.

This online resource is primarily for Newly Qualified Social Workers, and existing social workers, who work in adult care and community care settings in Scotland. The main sections cover: understanding dementia; personal outcomes: valued relationships and community connections; working with carers; health and wellbeing; rights, support and protection; and supportive environments. Each section includes a mixture of personal stories, filmed drama, quotations, key facts, resource material and activities.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the joint effects of bereavement and caregiver intervention on caregiver depressive symptoms. 

In its latest report on palliative care, the health committee of the House of Commons recorded the Department of Health's admission that the lack of palliative care for patients without cancer was the greatest inequity of all.1 In the United Kingdom, people die in hospices almost solely from cancer, although it accounts for only 25% of all deaths.1 w1 Yet patients dying from dementia have been shown to have healthcare needs comparable to those of cancer patients.2 The palliative care approach provides appropriate control of symptoms, emphasises overall quality of life, takes a holistic appr

Objectives: Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) can lead to significant improvements in cognitive function and quality of life for people with dementia. This study sought to investigate whether improvements found in clinical trials were also noted by people with dementia, their carers and group facilitators in everyday life.

Method: Qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with people attending CST groups, their carers and the group facilitators. Data were recorded and transcribed, before being analysed using Framework Analysis.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach is to discuss current guidance and practice, and to offer academic criticism and explanation.