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Needs of Family Carers of Elderly People with Dementia Living in the Community
Author(s) -
Leong Joy,
Madjar Irena,
Fiveash Barb
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2001.tb01775.x
Subject(s) - respite care , dementia , feeling , nursing , medicine , qualitative research , intervention (counseling) , psychology , gerontology , social psychology , sociology , social science , disease , pathology
Book reviews in this article: Objectives : To identify and describe areas of significant unmet need perceived as important to family members caring for an elderly relative with dementia at home. Method : Two methods of data collection, a self‐reporting community survey (n=94) and a series of semi‐structured qualitative interviews (n=10), were used for the study. Qualitative data were used to explore in more depth significant needs reported in the survey. Results : The six most frequently reported barrier (unmet) needs are discussed in this paper. These included the needs: 1) to know that someone will provide care when family carer unable to do so; 2) a telephone hot‐line; 3) time away from caring duties; 4) ways to deal with stress; 5) time for physical rest, and 6) ways to deal with feelings of being trapped. The presence of these largely unmet needs acts as a barrier to health and wellbeing of family care givers and limits their capacity for ongoing care. It also serves to highlight limitations in the current provision of community health services. Conclusion : The findings support the need to develop or extend community support services such as telephone hot‐lines, crisis intervention teams, and respite facilities to meet emergency and on‐the‐spot needs of people caring for their elderly relatives with dementia at home.