Abstract
The aging of the world population is increasing the prevalence of people suffering from some form of a progressive degenerative disease, in most cases Alzheimer’s disease. With no effective treatment that would cure or stop the progression of these diseases many people survive into an advanced stage of dementia. Optimal care for people with advanced dementia must not only include safe environment, adequate nutrition and personal hygiene, but should also promote high quality of life during the disease process. Quality of life is a subjective quality and is difficult to determine in people who cannot meaningfully communicate their feelings. However, a study investigating perceptions of quality of life among nursing home residents with different degrees of cognitive impairment, found that there were four key themes identified by the respondents: social contact, attachment, pleasurable activities, and affect [1].
Highlights
The aging of the world population is increasing the prevalence of people suffering from some form of a progressive degenerative disease, in most cases Alzheimer’s disease
A study investigating perceptions of quality of life among nursing home residents with different degrees of cognitive impairment, found that there were four key themes identified by the respondents: social contact, attachment, pleasurable activities, and affect [1]
These answers clearly indicate that there is a need for special attention to quality of life of people with advanced dementia
Summary
The aging of the world population is increasing the prevalence of people suffering from some form of a progressive degenerative disease, in most cases Alzheimer’s disease. Optimal care for people with advanced dementia must include safe environment, adequate nutrition and personal hygiene, but should promote high quality of life during the disease process. These answers clearly indicate that there is a need for special attention to quality of life of people with advanced dementia. This field is quite neglected and only 1.9% of studies investigating strategies for improvement quality of life in dementia considered advanced dementia [3].
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