Services for Dementia in the Elderly Essay

Introduction

England is experiencing an increasing growth in the numbers of people who have dementia. The highest sum of people is the elderly population, and this has made the disease a critical health care issue that needs to be addressed (Nichols et al., 2011). The estimates have shown that close to 676,000 people have dementia while in the entire UK the numbers are estimated to be close to 850,000 (Gitlin, Jacobs, & Earland, 2010). Research shows that the likelihood of developing the disease in the elderly people is doubling every five years after age 65 years (Napoles et al., 2010). This research mainly concentrates on the services available for the dementia patients in England and their daily experiences

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Aims and objectives

To understand the experiences, expectations and service needs of an elderly population suffering from dementia and those of their care providers

To describe the process experiences of assessments and encounters that recent older adults have had while at the hands of healthcare providers and other professionals as understood by care providers.

Explore the understanding, access and use of services that are related to assessment and diagnosis for both the elderly with dementia and that of their care providers and how they affect the treatment decisions they make and knowledge on the management of the disease.

Develop a model of care for older adults that are newly diagnosed with dementia that can promote integrated and cross-agency working strategies to support self-management.

Ethical considerations

Consent was sort from the respondents before the commencing of the study.

High level of confidentiality on the data and information provided by the participants of the study

Literature review

Studies have indicated that the number of people who have dementia in the UK especially in the elderly population is on the rise which prompts the need for further research (Dewing & Dijk, 2016). Dementia is a disease that is characterized by the loss of memory (Mittelman & Bartels, 2014). This is not an overall disease, but it describes a group of symptoms that accompanying it among them including memory loss, communication and language, the ability to focus and pay attention, reasoning and judgment and the visual perception (Ornstein et al., 2013). There are different types of dementia that people can suffer from, but the symptoms in all the cases are progressive which means that the disease keeps on developing with time (Johansson, Bjorklund, Sidenvall & Christensson, 2017). The main causes of dementia are the destruction of brain cells that interferes with their ability to communicate and pass across information. This then affects the ability of the brain to think, behave and also the feelings that an individual has (Miller, Whitlatch & Lyons, 2016).

According to Tewary et al. (2018), people living with dementia have varied experienced from the different health professionals that handle them. It is however noted that people with dementia have some struggles that are similar among them being that of staying connected to the social world and the dramatic life changes that come. Some of the patients have an increased financial burden which is mostly passed on to their children and other close relatives (Mitchell et al., 2016). With this then social isolation has become a common phenomenon among people living with dementia. Studies have indicated that this is aggravated by the fact that most of the people with dementia live alone since at that age most of the family members have moved out (Algar, Woods & Windle, 2016).

Braden, & Gaspar, (2015), in his research, indicated that most of the people in the community do not understand dementia which makes it difficult for them to support the victims. There is a need therefore that all the affected victims get a caregiver who will be responsible for offering services to them. Due to the high rate of increasing number of people who have dementia, accessing the health services becomes difficult since most of them depend on other for financial support (Gibson et al., 2016). One of the ways to deal with dementia has been found to involve the creation of friendly communities by creating awareness and understanding among the people (Murphy et al., 2016).

Methodology

The research will adopt the qualitative method to study the objectives of the study. A survey was conducted to collect data on the representative population regarding their experience of living with dementia (Kaplan, 2017). The finding obtained from this population will be generalized for the entire population with similar characteristics to the one understudy. The main population of the study will encompass the elderly population suffering from dementia in England (Weber, 2017). The participants have to be 65 years old and above, and more importantly, they have to have a caregiver who has been with them for over six months. Since the population is too large to be studied, a sample will be obtained randomly to facilitate the same. A total of 100 participants were considered for the study. The main instruments that were used in data collection include a structured questionnaire and focused group discussions. Both face and content validity were conducted to ensure that the questionnaire collected the data that was required for the study (Groves et al., 2011). Data was collected by the use of questionnaires in the different facilities where they had escorted their patients for medication. The questionnaires were then coded for easy analysis of the responses given by the respondents (Charnes et al., 2013).

Data analysis

Data were analyzed by the use of different software and graphs and charts were generated to illustrate the response given by the caregivers. The t-test statistical analysis was employed to help in interpreting the results that were obtained from the study (Davis et al., 2011). The statistical package for social science (SPSS) was employed in helping to analyze the data that was obtained in the questionnaires. The results that were obtained showed varied responses from the clients regarding the experiences they have had as caregivers of people living with dementia and the patients themselves (Galvin et al., 2010).

Conclusion and recommendation

From the study, there were varied experiences that both the caregivers and patients with dementia had. One of the key ones was that of seeking a diagnosis of the disease to verify its existence. Most of the patients had to wait for close to six months before they could receive the final report on the same and this was disturbing. The other experience that was overwhelming for most of the respondents was when seeking access to medical and community services to help in supporting the patient during the disease. Still, there were many delays that in the same but most of the respondents indicated that the services were good once accessed. Still another experience was while accessing information in regards to the disease and most of the responses showed that the clients had to push to obtain the information that they needed concerning the disease. While managing the disease, the caregivers reported that most of the time they had to approach the care provider to initiate management, and yet this was their sole responsibility. The study found out that the acre providers appreciated the response given to them by the care providers and were glad that they had the right attitude toward there clients.

The main recommendation is, therefore, to ensure that the care providers understand the unique needs of each patient and provide personalized care to them. More training is needed with improved facilities to care for people with dementia. More so there has to be proper communication between the health care providers and their clients. The findings of this research can be used to improve the health facilities that cater for people living with dementia.

References

Algar, K., Woods, R. T., & Windle, G. (2016). Measuring the quality of life and well-being of people with dementia: A review of observational measures. Dementia, 15(4), 832-857.

Braden, B. A., & Gaspar, P. M. (2015). Implementation of a baby doll therapy protocol for people with dementia: Innovative practice. Dementia, 14(5), 696-706.

Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., Lewin, A. Y., & Seiford, L. M. (Eds.). (2013). Data envelopment analysis: Theory, methodology, and applications. Springer Science & Business Media.

Davis, J. D., Tremont, G., Bishop, D. S., & Fortinsky, R. H. (2011). A telephonedelivered psychosocial intervention improves dementia caregiver adjustment following nursing home placement. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(4), 380-387.

Dewing, J., & Dijk, S. (2016). What is the current state of care for older people with dementia in general hospitals? A literature review. Dementia, 15(1), 106-124.

Galvin, J. E., Duda, J. E., Kaufer, D. I., Lippa, C. F., Taylor, A., & Zarit, S. H. (2010). Lewy body dementia: caregiver burden and unmet needs. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders, 24(2), 177.

Gibson, G., Newton, L., Pritchard, G., Finch, T., Brittain, K., & Robinson, L. (2016). The provision of assistive technology products and services for people with dementia in the United Kingdom. Dementia, 15(4), 681-701.

Gitlin, L. N., Jacobs, M., & Earland, T. V. (2010). Translation of a dementia caregiver intervention for delivery in homecare as a reimbursable Medicare service: Outcomes and lessons learned. The Gerontologist, 50(6), 847-854.

Groves, R. M., Fowler Jr, F. J., Couper, M. P., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E., & Tourangeau, R. (2011). Survey methodology (Vol. 561). John Wiley & Sons.

Johansson, L., Bjorklund, A., Sidenvall, B., & Christensson, L. (2017). Staff views on how to improve mealtimes for elderly people with dementia living at home. Dementia, 16(7), 835-852.

Kaplan, A. (2017). The conduct of inquiry: Methodology for behavioural science. Routledge.

Miller, L. M., Whitlatch, C. J., & Lyons, K. S. (2016). Shared decision-making in dementia: a review of patient and family carer involvement. Dementia, 15(5), 1141-1157.

Mitchell, G., McCormack, B., & McCance, T. (2016). Therapeutic use of dolls for people living with dementia: A critical review of the literature. Dementia, 15(5), 976-1001.

Mittelman, M. S., & Bartels, S. J. (2014). Translating research into practice: Case study of a community-based dementia caregiver intervention. Health Affairs, 33(4), 587-595.

Murphy, K., Jordan, F., Hunter, A., Cooney, A., & Casey, D. (2015). Articulating the strategies for maximising the inclusion of people with dementia in qualitative research studies. Dementia, 14(6), 800-824.

Napoles, A. M., Chadiha, L., Eversley, R., & Moreno-John, G. (2010). Reviews: developing culturally sensitive dementia caregiver interventions: are we there yet?. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias, 25(5), 389-406.

Nichols, L. O., Martindale-Adams, J., Burns, R., Graney, M. J., & Zuber, J. (2011). Translation of a dementia caregiver support program in a health care system-REACH VA. Archives of Internal Medicine, 171(4), 353-359.

Ornstein, K., Gaugler, J. E., Devanand, D. P., Scarmeas, N., Zhu, C., & Stern, Y. (2013). The differential impact of unique behavioral and psychological symptoms for the dementia caregiver: how and why do patients' individual symptom clusters impact caregiver depressive symptoms?. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21(12), 1277-1286.

Tewary, S., Cook, N., Pandya, N., & McCurry, S. M. (2018). Pilot test of a six-week group delivery caregiver training program to reduce sleep disturbances among older adults with dementia (Innovative practice). Dementia, 17(2), 234-243.

Weber, M. (2017)...