The Impact of Dementia Care on Carers in the UK: A Critical Evaluation

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report examines the impact of dementia care on carers in the UK.

THE IMPACT OF DEMENTIA ON CARERS IN UK
Contents
CHAPTER 1..............................................................................................................................................1
1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................1
1.1 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS.................................................................................1
1.2 BACKGROUND..............................................................................................................................3
1.3 STATEMENT PROBLEM..............................................................................................................5
1.4 JUSTIFICATION.............................................................................................................................5
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE..............................................................................................................................6
1.6 SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................................7
METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................................................8
TIMELINE..................................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................10
1

CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Research provides the evidence base for the practices in health and social care and as
relation to social research the concept of research regarding the topic included has to
be targeting the current health issue and concerns. In this research dementia is
2

identified as the health issue and the impact of dementia on its carers are to be
discussed. This chapter deals with introduction of the research that focuses on
discussing the entire research topic with its motivation and rationale. The background to
the research is provided in this chapter with some evidences from the literature. Thee
chapter also includes the research statement problem and aims and objectives that are
to be considered while conducting the study. The chapter also includes the justification
for the research and the purpose of this study.
1.1 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Dementia
Dementia is a neuro generative disorder that is characterized by reduced cognitive
functioning and forgetfulness. It is usually described as the condition associated to
disease such as Alzheimer’s.
Carer
Carer is referred to a person who takes care of an individual who is not competent
enough to take care of own self and has to depend on others o their activity of daily
living ad routine life.
Psychological impact
The psychological impact on the life of the individual refers to the impact of certain
process or significant event in the life on the mental ability and status of the individual.
1.2 BACKGROUND
Dementia is identified as a progressive disorder who suffer from a neurological
disturbance and lose the probability to stay independently without anyone’s assistance
(Luengo-Fernandez, Leal and Gray., 2015). Along with this, the majority of these
patients lives with their family members, are managed in a situation where they can
escalate their identified demands and are being provided with the required care by the
caregivers.
3

Caring for a geriatric patient who is suffering from dementia is a critical challenge as it
involves physical, emotional, financial and social life burden. This is further identified as
a highly challenging task that involves immense learning (Challis, et al., 2016). The
caregivers of dementia patients usually experience several types of emotional problems
during their illness and one of these problems includes depression that is often
overlooked and is not cared about. Further, it is known that the caregivers who are
patient’s family members are often suffering from more depression and anxiety
symptoms as compared to the non-caregivers of the same gender and age (Knapp, et
al., 2016). Research reports that the caregivers of patients suffering from dementia
suffer from emotional stress and depression more than the caregivers of non-demented
patients. Further, the prevalence rate for symptoms of depression is known to range
between 28% to 55%. Limited literature and gaps that are present in literature regarding
the effects of dementia care on the carers resulted to the conduction of this research.
The aim of this study is to fill the gaps present in the literature that can help the future
practices by promoting better strategies of care and support for dementia carers.
AIM
The aim of this research is to critically evaluate the physical social, emotional
psychological impact of caring process for dementia patients on the carers.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the impact of dementia care on the physical, emotional and psychological
wellbeing of the carer
To evaluate the strategies working currently to promote support to the dementia carer
To explore the effectiveness and areas of improvement required to promote better
support to the carer to enhance their quality of life
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Broad questions
What are the impacts of caring process for dementia patient on the life of the carers?
4

Narrow questions
1. What psychological impact does dementia care have on the carers?
2. What social and physical impact does dementia care have on carers?
3. What strategies are currently working in UK in order to provide support to dementia
carers?
1.3 STATEMENT PROBLEM
The following essay presents research on the impact of the caring process for dementia
patients on their cares in UK, United Kingdom. Dementia is a long term condition with
cognitive and mental disabilities. The rising prevalence of dementia in UK has been
associated with the increasing elder population in the region. As age is considered to be
a risk factor associated with dementia the increasing prevalence of elderly patient in UK
are directly responsible for estimated high prevalence of dementia in the nation. Caring
for dementia patient becomes more challenging as these patients often experience
forgetfulness and are vulnerable to harm and abuse. Caring for these patients is
associated with challenging task and fulfilling their requirements is not an easy job
(Gordon, et al., 2013). The need for specialized care is identified for dementia patients
and this concern is the main motive behind the study. The caring process for dementia
patient is challenging and it possesses various impacts on physical mental and social
wellbeing of the carers. This study is aimed at explaining the impact of care process on
the carers of dementia patient and hat strategies are currently working in order to
provide support to reduce their burden (Rowen et al., 2015).
1.4 JUSTIFICATION
Dementia is a growing disorder that not only affects the lives of individual living with it
but also results in impact on the life of the individuals associated with its caring process.
The literature usually focuses on the justification of the challenges and the problems
that the person suffering from dementia faces during their life and how the condition
deteriorates their quality of life, there are very little evidence on how the condition
5

affects the quality of life and has impact on psychological, physical as well as social
wellbeing of the carers of dementia patients (Challis et al., 2019). This study focuses on
highlighting these aspects that are overseen and the study aims at enlightening new
interpretations with new findings that would help understand the situation better. The
study will be conducted in a mixed qualitative manner that will allow the researcher to
gain knowledge and apply the findings to make recommendations for the future practice
and society. The study will firstly benefit the researcher by enhancing the knowledge
and skills that are required to conduct such a project. The study will also benefit the
carers of dementia patient by highlighting their difficulties and focusing on bringing their
side of life in front of the society so that the policy maker ad government can work
effectively together to promote their wellbeing. The carers’ health physically and
mentally both is essentially for the wellbeing of the diseased individual as they are the
one who care for them and helps in promoting them a controlled and normal life. The
mental peace that the carer requires is essential for overall quality of their lives. It is
seen that the carer of dementia patient usually suffers from mental sickness like anxiety
and depression as they cannot manage their lives and have to sacrifice their social and
mental wellbeing to present their duties towards their family or friends suffering with
dementia. These arguments need to be tested and provided with the hypothesis that will
allow the future health and social care sector to work effectively in order to help the
carer have external support and guidance to enhance their quality of life.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE
Dementia as discussed is a long term condition and caring for a person with long term
condition is challenging and tiring. This research focuses on evaluating the impact of
caring for dementia on the carers’ physical, emotional and psychosocial wellbeing. The
study aimed at exploring various significant impact of the long and tedious caring
process on the carer and the lack of health and social support or identification from the
society for their efforts. This research will significantly improve the wellbeing of the
dementia population as well as their carers (Mueller et al., 2018). The research is
mainly focused on evaluation of the current practices and the improvements that can be
held in order to enhance the performance of the health and social care sector regarding
the policies and support that is provided to the carers. It is seen that societal and
6

external support enhances the quality of life of the carer as well helps them to cope with
the challenges of the caring process. The study will benefit the researcher, government,
policy maker and the target population to make changes in current working system and
improve the aspects that can enhance the services and future practices.
1.6 SUMMARY
This chapter deals with the introduction of the study topic and explaining the rationale
and significance of the chosen topic related to the current health and social care
practices and future scope. The chapter focuses on providing a background of the
research and justification for the benefits that the study will provide to the specified
individual or group. Next chapter will deal with the review of appropriate literature that
will help in providing evidence for the chosen topic and allow the research to have a
critical evaluation of the researches that are reviewed. The chapter will also provide in
depth evidences from the literature that are credible, authentic and valid to support the
arguments.
7

LITERATURE REVIEW
The first research that highlighted the burden of providing care to a dementia patient
was highlighted by Zarit and his colleagues in the year 1980. After this study, there were
numerous studies which have collectively proved immense growth in the research
aspect, thereby focusing on ill-effects of care provision on their carers as well as the
interventions for reducing or controlling these effects (Mueller, et al., 2018). Along with
this, the stress which the carers experience is a problem of national health concern due
to their central role in caring for dementia patients. This topic gains importance as there
has been a significant increase in the count of dementia patients across the globe.
Caring for a patient having dementia can have its own consequences and may impact
the physical and mental health of the patient.
In the UK, about 5% of the individuals over the age of 60 years and 20% of the patients
over the age of 80 years and above are suffering from dementia. Further, it is predicted
8

that the count of individuals suffering from dementia will increase by 40% by 2026 and
will double the current figure by 2050. The increase in the demand of life care for
dementia patients is associated with financial, physical, and emotional costs and for
improving the quality of the treatment the cares must support and sacrifice to all their
extent (Rowen, et al., 2015). During this care, the carers face several clinical challenges
along with ethical problems in delivering appropriate assistance to the dementia patient.
With the help of this research, we will be able to identify the factors that are majorly
responsible for causing depression to a caregiver along with the cultural, ethnic, gender
differences and financial burden for the family members while trying to ensure best care
plan for the patient.
METHODOLOGY
The method used in this research is the descriptive mixed qualitative research method.
The descriptive method is the scientific method that deals with description of facts and
observation of behavior of the subject. The data collection method used in this research
is both primary and secondary with help of questionnaire and literature review. The
qualitative research methods refer to the qualitative data analysis of the data collected
by evaluating the subjective data (Kumar., 2019).
TIMELINE
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Topic selection
and approval
Research
proposal
Proposal
refinement
Literature review
9

Determination of
methodology
Framing of
questionnaire
Gaining consent
from participants
Conduction of
survey
Data analysis
Findings
Results
Final report
10

REFERENCES
Challis, D., Sutcliffe, C., Hughes, J., Von Abendorff, R., Brown, P. and Chesterman, J.,
2016. Supporting people with dementia at home: Challenges and opportunities for the
21st century. Routledge.
Gordon, A.L., Franklin, M., Bradshaw, L., Logan, P., Elliott, R. and Gladman, J.R., 2013.
Health status of UK care home residents: a cohort study. Age and ageing, 43(1), pp.97-
103.
Knapp, M., Chua, K.C., Broadbent, M., Chang, C.K., Fernandez, J.L., Milea, D., Romeo,
R., Lovestone, S., Spencer, M., Thompson, G. and Stewart, R., 2016. Predictors of care
home and hospital admissions and their costs for older people with Alzheimer's disease:
findings from a large London case register. BMJ open, 6(11), p.e013591.
11

Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Luengo-Fernandez, R., Leal, J. and Gray, A., 2015. UK research spend in 2008 and
2012: comparing stroke, cancer, coronary heart disease and dementia. BMJ open, 5(4),
p.e006648.
Mueller, C., Perera, G., Rajkumar, A.P., Bhattarai, M., Price, A., O'Brien, J.T., Ballard,
C., Stewart, R. and Aarsland, D., 2018. Hospitalization in people with dementia with
Lewy bodies: Frequency, duration, and cost implications. Alzheimer's & Dementia:
Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, 10, pp.143-152.
Rowen, D., Mulhern, B., Banerjee, S., Tait, R., Watchurst, C., Smith, S.C., Young, T.A.,
Knapp, M. and Brazier, J.E., 2015. Comparison of general population, patient, and carer
utility values for dementia health states. Medical Decision Making, 35(1), pp.68-80.
12