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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Do caregivers' experiences correspond with the concerns raised in the literature?
— ethical issues relating to non-dementia drugs | | Author(s) | Anna R Huizing, Ron L P Berghmans, Guy A M Widdershoven |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 21, no 9, September 2006 |
| Pages | pp 869-875 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Drugs ; Quality of life ; Attitude ; Informal care ; Social ethics ; Literature reviews ; Qualitative Studies ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | The use of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChE-Is) has raised debate in the literature on the ethical issues of drug treatment in dementia patients. The issues concern dementia patients' quality of life and the process of decision-making regarding the use of ChE-Is. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 caregivers of patients with dementia in Maastricht, the Netherlands, focusing on issues of quality of life and the process of decision-making, regarding use of anti-dementia drugs. This article explores whether the ethical concerns raised in the literature are actually in line with experiences in the daily practice of dementia care. Results seem to indicate that theoretical considerations should be modified in the light of the reported experiences of caregivers. For example, problematic consequences of an early diagnosis and the creation of unreasonable hope did not appear in the study. Also, problems concerning the rising awareness of cognitive decline were not found. In the interests of an ongoing ethical debate on the development and use of anti-dementia drugs, it is important to further specify theoretical issues and to conduct empirical research into the practice of decision-making, and to get more insight in the perspectives of patients using anti-dementia medicines themselves. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-061012002 A |
| Classmark | EA: LLD: F:59: DP: P6: TQ: 64A: 3DP: 76H |
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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