Tips To Choose Dementia and Alzheimer Care

Dementia, and especially
Alzheimer's disease, is an increasingly common problem. Patients with dementia
often require long-term care; in most cases, this care is provided by a member
of the family in generic terms, the so-called "main caregiver."These people who adopt the
role of the caregiver are under great pressure. They often present
contradictory emotions and feelings, are disoriented and helpless and can get
sick. A series of phases through which the caregiver passes have been
described. In summary, these are phases of perplexity, impotence,
duality-ambivalence, tiredness and loneliness, and finally, emptiness or
liberation when the patient dies.The result of all this is
usually a high frequency of consultations with the primary care team, where
they make demands for care due to various symptoms that affect and have
repercussions in all spheres of the person, constituting the already known and
described caregiver syndrome.Within this syndrome, Dementia
and alzheimer care can find physical alterations, psychosomatic
alterations, family affective problems, and economic and legal problems.
Therefore, it is important to carry out an assessment and follow-up of these
caregivers to achieve more effective care for a patient with dementia. Factors
to assess that influence caregiver stress:• Background and context of
family history.• The situation of care, of
the relative, including the state and behaviour of the same.• The stress was inherent in
the change in the caregiver's lifestyle.• The caregiver's emotional
response and their role as such.• The caregiver's ability to
successfully cope with their problems.There are also questionnaires
for the selective detection of problems that can be useful in assessing the
burden of the main caregiver. Dementia, alzheimer, palliative
care at home can use cost-care index, measurement of the caregiver's
assessment, and the functional scale of dementia.Caregiver Support GroupsFor some years now, several
primary care teams have been carrying out experiences with support groups for
relatives of patients with dementia.All of them have support and
help for these family members in common, although there are different types of
groups according to the specific objectives to be achieved. There are groups
with fundamentally psychological/emotional support objectives in which the
affected people direct the group dynamics, purely informative groups, and mixed
information and help groups for dementia
caregivers. The goals of the groups are:• Offer family members a space
for support and exchange of experiences.• Inform relatives about the
disease.• Contain the anxiety and
conflicts generated in these patients' care.• Facilitate the use of bio-psychosocial
resourcesThe criterion for inclusion in
the group is that they are caregivers of a patient with dementia and wish to
participate. The caregiver's exclusion criteria would be dementia or important
cognitive disorders, psychiatric disorders, or problems that make integration
or communication difficult (severe deafness).The group support program
consists of 8-10 weekly sessions; subsequently, if the group members are not
linked to a family association or remain as a mutual-help group, it is
important to hold a group reinforcement session every 2-3 months.The group comprises about 10
relatives plus the leader of the group and, if possible, an observer who will
be a team member. The contents of the theoretical presentations can be:• Diagnosis of dementia,
evolution• The family is against the
disease• Basic nursing care for
patients with dementia• Safety regulations and
accident prevention• Legal aspects and resources• Health problems associated
with dementia• Communication with the
patient• Caregiver stress
prevention