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Non‐pharmacological management of Alzheimer's disease: A qualitative study in Mauritius
Author(s) -
Dorkhy Geeta Devi,
Goorah Smita
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.037199
Subject(s) - feeling , qualitative research , dementia , psychological intervention , disease , medicine , gerontology , cognition , quality of life (healthcare) , coding (social sciences) , perception , psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , nursing , pathology , social psychology , social science , statistics , mathematics , neuroscience , sociology
Background The major form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In Mauritius it was estimated in year 2015 that around 12,000 persons had Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer disease International). Many of the pharmacological therapies provide only modest results in AD. Therefore, apart from pharmacological therapies, non‐pharmacological treatment (NPT) which can influence cognitive performance such as cognitive training, occupational therapy, reminiscence therapy, are being highly investigated. The only NGO in Mauritius is “Alzheimer’s Association”, from where the persons with AD were recruited. Method Non‐interventional methods of qualitative study was carried out with in‐depth semi‐structured, one‐to‐one interviews lasting 30‐45 minutes. This was audio recorded. An informed consent from the carer or patient‐relative prior to starting was ensured. Open‐ended questions were used, relating to NPT, to yield in‐depth responses about people’s experiences, perceptions, opinions, feelings, and knowledge. Data analysis of qualitative research data proceeded with coding and decoding. Result Qualitative study (n=20) emerged with 7 main themes. Among these, dependency on family was identified as an important theme. Responses of the person with AD was mainly related to their experiences, perceptions, opinions, feelings, and various levels of dependency. Conclusion Non‐pharmacological interventions has an important role to prolong the active age of older individuals, as well as to maintain quality of life. There is still a greater demand on the market for non‐pharmacological interventions and Mauritius should plan and devise national guidelines to deal with the unmet proportion of elderly so as to curb for future health equality and stability.