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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A cross cultural review of the ethical issues in dementia care in Kerala, India and The Netherlands | | Author(s) | C V Sowmini, Raymond De Vries |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 24, no 4, April 2009 |
| Pages | pp 329-334 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/gps |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Terminal care ; Social ethics ; Cross sectional surveys ; Literature reviews ; India ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | The diverse ethical issues in the care of people with dementia in the Netherlands and Kerala, India are explored, using cross-cultural data and a review of the literature. The medical paradigm is dominant in the Netherlands, and awareness of dementia as an organic brain disease is low in Kerala. Institutionalised care is more common in the Netherlands and home-based care is the norm in Kerala. Institutional care is costly, whereas home-based care is stressful for caregivers. The advanced directive plays an influential role in the Netherlands, but this mechanism is yet to evolve in Kerala. The legal and social setting of the Netherlands has a strong influence on physician decision-making concerning end-of-life issues. In Kerala, decisions on these matters is nearly unknown. Limited awareness of dementia in Kerala should be addressed in public forums, which can then be used to garner government support. The predominantly institutional model of care-giving in the Netherlands and home-based caregiving in Kerala each have their strengths; policy makers in both societies can usefully apply the value merits inherent in both models. A culturally appropriate implementation of the advanced directive will have beneficial medical, social and economic impacts in Kerala. The remarkable disparity between these two examples in dealing with end-of-life issues will allow more philosophically and socially informed ways of dealing with the ethical questions that arise in these situations. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090824001 A |
| Classmark | EA: LV: TQ: 3KB: 64A: 7FA: 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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