Dewar, Belinda

Effective support to carers of people with dementia can be critical to maintain quality of life for people with dementia and their families and to sustain the future of health and care systems. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 14 carers of people with dementia across Scotland, and the data were analysed to identify the outcomes important to the carers. The importance of relationships emerged as the core theme, including relationship with the person with dementia, family members, other carers, and professionals.

For the past 15 years a central theme of government health-care policy has been to encourage the health service to change the way it relates to those who use it. Recent health policy documents such as Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change (Scottish Executive, 2000) emphasise a more integrated way of working that reflects co-operative partnerships.

Aim The aims of this project were to implement guidance that sought to involve carers of older people in decision-making processes, and to promote practice development through work-based learning.