Monitoring

Population ageing within Europe has major social and economic consequences. One of the most devastating conditions that predominantly affects older people is dementia. The SMART4MD (Support Monitoring and Reminder Technology for Mild Dementia) project aims to develop and test a health application specifically designed for people with mild dementia.

Family carers play an important role supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) into adulthood. Funders of services often desire this ongoing involvement by family members yet they rarely collect data about family carers. As policy makers and planners are increasingly recognizing the need for information related to indicators of system performance, a scoping review was conducted to identify system-wide information needed about family carers of adults with I/DD that would help improve the quality of service provided.

This article examines three kinds of social relationship likely to be present when people with dementia are cared for at home by relatives or friends: custodial care, an intimate relationship, and home-life. Using Goffman's three defining aspects of custodial care – routinisation, surveillance and mortification of the self – the paper examines whether these characterised the care of people with dementia at home and, if so, whether they conflicted with the intimate relationship and with home-life.

The concept of care has attracted considerable interest and there has been growing attention both to the needs of carers and how they may sometimes conflict with those of service users. Draws on initial research findings to examine experiences of care in mental health for men and women and for carers and users.

The aim of this study was to improve understanding of the relationship between carers' existing knowledge about dementia, their coping style and psychological morbidity. Fifty carers and patients attending day services were recruited. Carers were given questionnaires to assess knowledge of dementia, preferred coping style, anxiety, depression and strain. The results indicated that carers who demonstrated more knowledge about the biomedical aspects of dementia were more anxious.

Once again the issue of using electronic tagging to safeguard older people who wander has attracted media attention. It is tempting to see the arguments as simply two sided—one side stressing the need to ensure safety and the other waving the banners of civil liberties and human rights. We think that this is not simply a factual matter but one that touches important values to do with respect for people. The correct position, therefore, is to face the complex dilemma.