Simulation workshops for family caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers
Population aging can entails the transfer of care from the hospital into patient homes. Home care can be an option for patients after hospital stay or as a way to avoid admission altogether. This choice is based upon the desire to remain safely autonomous in a familiar setting for as long as possible, even through illness.
Home care, often given by health professionals such as nurses, and occupational and physical therapists, can also be undertaken by family or professional caregivers, who will accompany patients in their day to day activities and help them groom and feed themselves, clean their home and prepare meals.
Supporting family caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, Accept: a community support program
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will affect its sufferers as well as their caregiving spouses. Caring for a sufferer of AD is both stressful and highly demanding, and will impact the health of caregivers, especially when they are also elderly and when considering the cumulative effects of chronic, age-related illnesses and psychological decline. Moreover, elderly caregivers have the tendency to focus their attention on their Alzheimer’s suffering spouse and, consequently, to lose sight of their own health. All of this contributes to a vicious cycle which will eventually lead to a mediocre standard of living and increased frailty for the dyad (the caregiver-sufferer couple). Therefore, any intervention which is focused on the conservation or improvement of health and functional status for caregiving spouses of Alzheimer’s sufferers must be a priority, so as to maintain the autonomy and living standard of the dyad for as long as possible.
Family caregivers in Quebec: identification and needs
According to the «General Social Survey on Care Given and Received» conducted by the Institut Statistique du Québec, some 1,675,000 Quebecers aged 15 and over were family caregivers in 2012.
This data must be updated. Who are the family caregivers in Quebec today? How many are there? Do they recognize themselves as such? Are they long-term caregivers of chronically ill loved ones or short term caregivers? Are they caregivers of elderly people, children, relatives with disabilities, loved ones with neurodegenerative disorders or mental illness?
