COPING WITH ALZHEIMER DISEASE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
1 Introduction
Many countries globally are faced with unprecedented demographic changes from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility, giving rise to an ageing population. Population ageing is profound and enduring, and has major consequences and implications for all facets of human life. With a larger proportion of older people, one of the major concerns is health care. The health of older persons generally declines with age and some illness are more likely to be associated with older people. One of such illness is dementia. As the life expectancies of the general population have dramatically increased since the turn of the century, more and more people are at risk of developing dementia (National Institute of Aging, 2000).
Dementia is affecting an increasing number of people every year. According to
Ferri et al. (2006), 4.6 million people throughout the world are diagnosed with dementia every year, and the number of people in Europe suffering from dementia will increase to 13 million in 2040; and Wimo et al. (2003) estimates that approximately 63 million worldwide will suffer from this illness by 2030. This has crucial implications since it is an illness that is associated with long-term care (LTC). However, while LTC is an important consideration, the quality of life and how people with dementia cope with the illness are also of much concern, but less dealt into. Dementia can undermine a person’s self-worth and esteem, and affects most aspects of daily living (Preston, Marshall, & Bucks, 2007) affecting one’s quality of life (QOL).
Traditionally, the medical model dominated research on dementia, and studies on the lived experiences of people with dement...
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In most facilities an initiative lifestyle has been organized to give people with dementia a voice in how and where they are cared for (White). This is how things should be everywhere in the world when it comes to people with dementia. People affected by this disease don’t need people to tell them what to do or make decisions for them, they need the freedom to do it themselves so they don’t give up. Although incapacity is common, many persons with dementia are capable of making their own medical and research decisions (Kim, Karlawish, and Caine). At the early stages of dementia, a will needs to be made so medical wishes can be granted. When people are given the freedom of choice, they are much happier, they live longer, and they have a better attitude about the disease they are suffering from. Individuals that get dementia did not get it by choice, but they live through it day by day with strength and the ability to live
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
Dementia is a disease which causes mental debility and affects one’s way of intelligent, attentiveness, recollection and problem-solving (NHS, 2013). As a result of dysfunction of brain cells in some parts of the brain it affects the thinking process then dementia occurs and it usually comes with age (Ibid). It is estimated that 560 000 people suffer from dementia in England and as a result the NHS and Social Care spend about 3.3billion (National Audit Offices)
The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1992. Print.
Dementia is common among a large population of elderly people. The disease affects not only the individual diagnosed, but also the caregivers that work towards making their life comfortable in the end. Understanding and learning about the disease is crucial in helping those that experience or live with someone who has dementia. The services and support that are currently in affect for elderly people with dementia and the caregivers is poor, and ineffective because of the lack of research and information on the topic.
The human brain is extraordinary organ. It stores our memories, vision, hearing, speech, and capable of executing executive higher reasoning and functions setting us apart from animals. Today we know more about the human brain because of medical advances and the development of technology. These brain disorders have been studied for years and many others would classify dementia as a mental illness because it causes cognitive impairments. The following paragraphs will discuss what dementia is, what the types of dementia are, perspectives of patients with dementia as well as the perspective of a caregiver to a dementia patient.
In the field of Psychology you can find an abundance of mental disorders that can have an affect on people all throughout the world. Out of all the mental disorders that can be found around the world, some of them are more well-known and more widespread than others. The following disorders could be described as being well-known and widespread disorders: depression, bi-polar disorder, Alzheimer's, and OCD, which could also be called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. All of these mental disorders can be very dangerous and possibly deadly if people don't receive the proper care in order to be able to contain these disorders. Out of these very dangerous and possibly deadly disorders, I believe that Alzheimer's is the most interesting disorder. I think that Alzheimer's is the most interesting disorder, because I think we have the least about of knowledge of the Alzheimer's disorder. As a society we still to this day don't have a cure that totally stops this disorder.
“Difficult, depressing, and tragic” are a few of the descriptions generally associated with illness. Those who suffer from dementia, especially, undergo a realm of these characterizations. With this adversity in mind, most people generate a basic understanding based on education rather than personal experience. It is this preconception that can prevent us from gaining a true insight of one’s reality.
Dementia is a major neurocognitive disorder that interferes with the independence of the elderly by inhibiting memory and thinking skills. Fifty to eighty percent of dementia cases constitute of Alzheimer’s diagnoses; consequently Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and currently affects 5.2 million Americans. Most of these cases are patients above the age of 65 and by 2050; 13.8 million Americans in total will suffer Alzheimer’s due to aging of the general population, specifically the baby boomers. Total cost to society ranges from $157- $215 billion (Associated Press). Some would assume the cost of Alzheimer’s to be incurred by pharmaceuticals or medical costs, however RAND Corp suggests dementia cost to society is from care rather than treatment. Therefore, assistance provided by informal providers and directs caregivers incur a majority of the financial and social cost. Currently, the workforce does not have the capacity or training to care for these unique patients; the delivery system needs to address Alzheimer’s as the population ages and more and more fam...
Caring for a person suffering dementia often comes with a myriad of deleterious effects on mental health including, but not limited to stress and depression at higher levels than non-carers, decreased social activity, disruption of sleep, poor physical health, decreased social activities and feelings of guilt, sadness, stigma, frustration, anger, anxiety, helplessness and isolation (------). Furthermore, these challenges are compounded with with the grief that accompanies watching a loved one progress into cognitive decline leaving them distant and estranged, and eventually dying
Dementia is a disorder which results in loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning to the extent where behavioral abilities interfere with a person’s daily life and activities. It is a set of symptoms affecting the brain which causes memory loss, starts slowly and increases with loss of the ability to function. In the beginning stages of dementia, a person can still function normally, but as the disorder progresses the activities such as driving, cooking, ironing or boiling a kettle of water becomes difficult, risky and should be monitored. The ability to focus and communicate is so confusing as to where they are, where they are going and sometimes starts wandering and get lost. It was so heartbreaking for me when my mom was diagnosed with
It is an inevitable fact that the twenty-first century will be impacted by the largest geriatric population of any century. In 2015, the World Health Organization announced that currently 47.5 million people on earth are living with dementia and approximately 7.7 new cases are surfacing every year (WHO, 2015). The U.S.public health system is at a point where it will have to focus its efforts on an entirely different approach to accommodate the growing elderly population that live with dementia. “Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder caused by various brain illnesses that affect perception, cognition and motor function” (Ridder & Gummesen, 2015). Dementia directly affects quality of life (QOL) of the elderly, and it can impair “participation,
Dementia is referred to as a condition in which an individual’s everyday life is so fragmented and/or ripped away from reality that he or she loses the ability to reason and think clearly (Berk, 2014). According to Prince et al., 2013, dementia strikes 13% of adults over the age of 65 in the United States and other Western nations (as cited in Berk, 2014). Additionally, dementia causes an individual to experience persistent memory lapses and can be caused by many different reasons like the development of Alzheimer’s disease, stress, depression, PTSD, etc. With this in mind, Dasha Kipers’ article, “Hope Is the Enemy”, goes in depth about what it is like for an individual who suffers from dementia. Furthermore, the article begins in 2010 when Dasha moved into an apartment with a 98-year-old man named Mr. Schecter, who was a Holocaust survivor dealing with the beginning stages of dementia. As Dasha and Mr. Schecters relationship developed, Dasha began to realize Mr. Schecters behavior: putting laundry detergent in the oven, forgetting which floor he lived on, and Mr. Schecters repetitiveness. Thus, in the end of Dasha’s article, Dasha explains that dementia affects not only the victims, but the caregivers as well by making their lives fragmented, skewed, and redundant (Kiper, 2015). For that reason, dementia is seen as being a condition in which everyone involved in
We often see or have heard of people who know someone with Alzheimer’s disease or may even be affected with the disease themselves. Alzheimer’s disease is not a peculiar case because it is growing substantially in our population due to the large population of old age individuals. Although it is not a disease that is part of the normal aging process for our human kind, it is often occurring in elderlies. It is a tragic disease that highly affects the wellbeing of an affected individual as well as their family and peers. An affected individual will suffer from memory lost as well as behavioral changes. These behavioral changes can range from mild to severe depending on the severity of the disease.
In a persons typical aging process, they will encounter many different changes in their lives. Some changes might result to be better than others, however not everyone will have the same effects. Authors of Gerontology: for the healthcare professional, Robnett and Chop state, “We need to consider whether the negative physical and cognitive changes that occur in older people result from the aging process or from the accumulation of poor lifestyle choices”. (Robnett & Chop, 104). For some, the aging process involves cognitive changes in which disorders such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s can present themselves early on. The proposal for this essay is to look at those two diseases, but to first understand what cognition is and what it means in reference