Care and Service at Home for People With Dementia in Europe

• Purpose: To describe available and utilized professional care and service at home for people with dementia, from diagnosis to end-of-life stage, in eight European countries. Design: A descriptive cross-country design concerning eight European countries as a part of the European research project, RightTimePlaceCare (RTPC).Methods: The research team in each country used a mapping system to collect countryspecific information on a general level concerning dementia care and service system. The mapping system consisted of fifty types of care and service activities. Sixteen of the fifty predefined activities concerning professional care and service at home were selected for this study and subdivided into three categories, following the stages of dementia.Results: Availability was reported to be higher than utilization and the results indicated more similarities than differences among the eight countries involved. Even though there were several available activities of Basic care and services and Health care interventions they were utilized by few in most countries. Furthermore, Specialized care and services for people with dementia were sparsely available and even more sparsely utilized in the participating countries.Conclusions: The results indicated that people with dementia in Europe received professional care and service on a general, basic level but seldom received care and service adjusted to their specific needs.Clinical Relevance: This study highlights available and utilized types of care and service activities enabling nurses to develop individually adjusted care plans for people with dementia during the progress of the disease. Knowledge of care and services in other countries provides nurses with an important tool for the improvement of dementia care. However assessing the quality of care requires an indication of informal care provision in different countries.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

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