Abstract
BackgroundFew reports have been published about differences in perspectives on perceived needs among community-residing people with dementia, their family caregivers, and professionals. The aim of this study was to compare these perspectives.MethodDuring 2006 and 2007, one-hundred and fifty two interviews of people with dementia and their caregivers about the needs of the person with dementia were performed by four professionals using The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE). Professionals’ views on met and unmet needs of people with dementia were obtained for the total sample, family caregivers’ perspectives were gained for 125 people with dementia, and people with dementia’s views on their own needs were obtained for 125 persons with dementia.ResultsPeople with dementia reported fewer needs compared with the reports of their caregivers and the professionals. The most frequent unmet needs reported by people with dementia, caregivers and professionals were in the areas of daytime activities, company, and psychological distress; however, people with dementia rated psychological distress as the commonest unmet need.ConclusionsSince the priorities of people with dementia can be different from those of caregivers and professionals, it is important to consider all perspectives when making care plans. Thus, compliance with treatment of people with dementia and also their quality of life could be potentially improved by a more collaborative partnership with them.
Highlights
Few reports have been published about differences in perspectives on perceived needs among community-residing people with dementia, their family caregivers, and professionals
People with dementia reported fewer needs compared with the reports of their caregivers and the professionals
The most frequent unmet needs reported by people with dementia, caregivers and professionals were in the areas of daytime activities, company, and psychological distress; people with dementia rated psychological distress as the commonest unmet need
Summary
Few reports have been published about differences in perspectives on perceived needs among community-residing people with dementia, their family caregivers, and professionals. Hancock et al [4] assessed the needs of people with dementia considering resident, caregiver, staff and researcher ratings of need. They found that most frequent unmet needs reported by caregivers were memory (32.5%), daytime activities (16.0%) and company (13.1%). In a recent study carried out in Chile by Covarrubias et al [7], information (34.5%), company (28%) and daytime activities (25.2%) were reported by people with dementia as the most common unmet needs whereas, similar to van der Roest’s findings, daytime activities (40%), company (36.8%) and memory (36.6%) were the most frequent unmet needs reported by caregivers. It has been found that younger people with dementia, those with a lower self-reported quality of life and higher number of behavioural and psychological symptoms, and those whose caregivers were not married reported higher levels of self-rated unmet needs [8]
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