Dementia

One cannot imagine that an individual with dementia could be abused by their carers who, more often than not, are close family members. Yet sufferers stand a high chance of falling victim to abuse because of their vulnerability. In this next article, Colm Owens and Claudia Cooper explain how they went about finding out from family carers of dementia sufferers how far abuse can go in order to understand what drives an individual to act in such a way.

Investigates the legal and practical issues surrounding the proposals to allow carers of people with severe dementia or profound learning difficulties to access 'indirect payments' through and expansion of the direct payments scheme. This would allow individuals who might not be able to access payments themselves to benefit from the flexibility and choice of direct payments.

Background: Depression in informal caregivers of persons with dementia is a major, costly and growing problem. However, it is not yet clear which caregivers are at increased risk of developing depression. With this knowledge preventive strategies could focus on these groups to maximize health gain and minimize effort.

A study by the National Institute for Social Work suggests that estimates can be made about the length of time that a person with dementia will need community and long term care services. This can be done based on an assessment of the severity of dementia at the time of the community care assessment. The author highlights the need for an appraisal of local old age psychiatry services and eligibility criteria, and the importance of monitoring carers' ability and willingness to provide care.

This article develops an approach towards dementia care that highlights the nature of dementia care triads comprising the person with dementia, their informal carer, and the health and social professional. In particular, the article highlights various social practices that are shown, from our practice, to contribute towards the inclusion or exclusion of particular triad members. The article reviews existing work on triadic interaction, particularly in relationship to dementia care. Various communication processes are identified and illustrated using examples taken from casework.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that family and professional caregivers have different views about what constitutes elder abuse.

Design: A vignette was given to family and professional carers. They were asked to rate 13 management strategies for behavioural difficulties in a person with dementia on a Likert scale ranging from good idea to abusive. Some of the strategies were abusive according to the Department of Health's ‘No Secrets’ definition.

Many people with dementia are cared for by family members, who will receive little advice or support. This article describes a course developed to help carers deal with frustrating and challenging behaviour. The course provides an overview of dementia, provides coping strategies for carers and introduces cares to mindfulness meditation to help them deal with stress.

In this fourth of five articles on developing a benchmarking tool for person-centred care, Caroline Baker, Paul Edwards and Tracy Packer describe the last two factors: carer involvement and organisational strategy.

Objective: We wanted to explore possible associations between characteristics of carers, dementia sufferers and the caring situation and the presence of abuse that was acknowledged by carers.

Methods: Eighty-two carers of dementia sufferers were interviewed in their homes about three types of abuse (verbal abuse, physical abuse and neglect) using a structured questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION: In 2009, the United Kingdom Department of Health identified the need to assist families so that people with dementia can remain living at home. Occupational therapists could support families and their loved ones at home by understanding the human occupational impact of caregiving. This impact includes how one is influenced by values and motivated to perform activities shaped by experiences and life roles.