Understanding the Needs of the Family Carers of People with Dementia
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| Pages | 25-28 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200100017 |
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| Author | Walter Wills,Alison Soliman |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The Mental Health Review Volume 6 Issue 2 June 2001 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2001 25
Understanding the Needs of the Family Carers
of People with Dementia
Walter Wills
Director of Research & Practice Development
Dementia Relief Trust
Alison Soliman
Director of Training & Education
Dementia Relief Trust
Focus on…
Introduction
As more people are living longer this growing number
of older people means an increase in mental health
problems. Twenty-five per cent of people over 85
develop dementia and between 10 and 16 per cent of
those over 65 develop clinical depression. In addition,
people who developed severe and enduring mental
health problems such as schizophrenia when young
are now growing older (Audit Commission, 2000).
Most people with dementia live in the community.
About half are cared for at home by a family carer,
usually a spouse or adult child (Keady & Nolan, 1995).
The average age of carers is between 60 and 65 years
and many are much older (Levin, 1997). Carers of
people with dementia are likely to have higher than
normal levels of stress and burden and report higher
levels of depression (Pearson et al, 1993; Russo et al,
1995).
The needs of carers
In their review of the literature on the needs of people
with dementia and those who care for them, Briggs
& Askham (1999) describe a discrepancy between the
definition of need as defined by service providers,
and ‘need’ as the service recipient expresses it.
Drawing on this distinction between expressed
and felt need, and comparative and normative need,
as suggested by Bradshaw (1972), Briggs and Askham
provide the following as a basis for the classification
of need within a number of domains associated with
caregiving:
■prevalence
■early identification and diagnosis
■assessment of need
■active treatments
■continuing support and review
■information and advice, counselling and advocacy
■emotional needs and support
■respite care
■financial support and implications for residential
care placements.
Many of these areas show a strong overlap with the
10 key requirements for services for older people
identified by Levin et al (1989); together they provide
a broad framework for evaluating the evidence for
needs-led interventions and services for carers.
We shall use this framework, and draw on the
review by Briggs and Askham (1999), to explore and
summarise what is known about carers’ needs from
the literature.
The prevalence of dementia may be seen as
forming a broader basis within which carers’ needs
are identified. The importance of looking at dementia
in relation to the age of the patient should not be
underestimated. There is a growing body of evidence
that the needs of people with early-onset dementia
and their carers differ from those of later-onset
dementia; Quinn (1996) and Newens et al (1995)
provide research evidence that early-onset patients
receive fewer services. Attention has also been
drawn to the need for further research into both the
prevalence of dementia and its effect in ethnic
minority communities (Patel et al, 1998).
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