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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The early identification of cognitive impairment
— a stakeholder evaluation of a "Dementia Awareness Service" in Belfast | | Author(s) | David Scott, Michael Donnelly |
| Journal title | Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 4, no 2, May 2005 |
| Pages | pp 207-232 |
| Source | http://www.dem.sagepub.com |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Early ; Cognitive impairment ; Referrals ; Diagnosis ; Screening ; Evaluation ; Belfast. |
| Annotation | The early and accurate identification of dementia helps to ensure the delivery of appropriate treatment, and allows people with dementia and their carers to plan for the future. This article describes a research evaluation of a new screening, assessment and referral service for people with early stage dementia and their carers who live in one of Northern Ireland's integrated health and social services trusts. 435 referrals were made to the service during the first 13 months: most were female (70%) with an average age of 80; 71% had a mild to moderate cognitive impairment. A research interview was conducted with 20 consecutive service users and their carers following initial assessment by a community psychiatric nurse and again 4 months later. Users recorded an overall improvement in self-reported quality of life; use of health and social services remained unchanged. Carers valued highly the information and support provided by the project; their QoL improved, and "stress and strain"(as measured by the General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-30 and Carers' Checklist) decreased. Generally, stakeholders, such as referral agents, reported that the new service made an important contribution to dementia care, although some professionals thought that the service needed to be better "networked" to avoid duplication of resources. Overall, the evaluation's findings help to address the lack of available information about ways in which to organise and deliver early stage dementia care. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050516205 A |
| Classmark | EA: 4J: E4: L5R: LK7: 3V: 4C: 9YBB |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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