Dementia: Importance of Early Diagnosis and Social Support

Running head: DEMENTIA
DEMENTIA
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DEMENTIA
Background
In the UK, more than 1,000,000 people are seen to suffer from dementia (Dewing and
Dijk 2016). On the global basis, 44 million are struggling with issues related to the same, making
Alzheimer a global health risk. Diagnosis of Alzheimer can change life of the individuals
suffering from the same. Things can be made smoother for the patients by educating them or
their family members; so that none is subjected to face the disease alone (Michael 2018).
Alzheimer can be termed as most common type of dementia with overall conditions wherein the
brain loses is normal functionality. Alzheimer causes problem with memory, behaviour and even
thinking. During initial stages impaired memory can be common. However, with progressive
stages, the disease causes more damage to the neurological functions. The rate of disease is
subjective to the affected individual with time span of 8 years after symptoms begin.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for Alzheimer, making care an important aspect for mitigating the
associated health risk.
The literature search
The search strategy
The current work makes use of biomedical databases. In addition to that, the research makes use
of a systematic review of relevant research literature; which would collect relevant study
pertaining to dementia that progressively turns out to be Alzheimer’s. The current research
therefore makes use of relevant secondary sources and aims to analyse the justified literature
through qualitative analysis.
In order to scan necessary databases, the research makes use of relevant keywords that
are as follows; “cure or care in Alzheimer’s”; “care for dementia”, “spousal dementia”,

DEMENTIA
“resilience in dementia”, “social support in Alzheimer’s”, “Alzheimer’s disease”. Pub Med and
Medline were used for gathering relevant data. The series of keywords were lengthy and it is for
the same reason that the Booleans such as “AND”, “OR”, “NOT” were used for finding the right
sort of combination. The literature review of the research papers makes use of substantive
finding coupled with theoretical knowledge about the disease. Through the mentioned
intervention, general public can be made aware about the wider implication of dementia.
Simultaneously, research paper published after 2013 are chosen to obtain latest knowledge about
the chosen mental issues.
An overview of the literature
As stated by (Brooker and Latham), there remains no permanent care for disease such as
Alzheimer’s. It is for the same reason the journals provided below are chosen as they concentrate
on holistic care. The social care gained prime importance in recent past; specifically, when the
medical fraternity realised that Alzheimer’s had no promising medical intervention.
Critical framework used with justification
The framework used in the current research is CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills
Programme). The suggested tool helps in procuring evidence based approach in treating people
suffering from memory loss. The mentioned intervention concentrates on the weakness and
strength of the research article and aims to validate the usefulness of the research findings
pertaining to care for dementia patients.