Centre for Policy on Ageing



The couples group — a joint support group for the person with dementia and their family
Author(s)	Gillian Bowie, Liz Williams
Journal title	PSIGE Newsletter, no 120, July 2012
Publisher	Psychologists' Special Interest Group in Elderly People - PSIGE, British Psychological Society, July 2012
Pages	pp 18-24
Source	http://www.psige.org.uk
Keywords	Dementia ; Married couples ; Family relationships ; Self help organisations ; Projects ; South Tyneside.
Annotation	The couples group was established in 2008 as a joint initiative between South Tyneside Older Person's Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and the Alzheimer's Society. The aim was to enable a person with dementia supported by a spouse of family member to attend small group sessions with other similarly affected couples. The group took place every week for a 1-hour session over six weeks, with three couples attending each group. This article evaluates results from the seven groups of couples, noting what was found to be useful: meeting others with similar difficulties; increased knowledge; awareness of feelings; more openness about dementia; and sharing and finding ways of coping. Given the high satisfaction reported by the original groups, the Couples Group has continued to run and evolve, based on the feedback received. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-121009214 A
Classmark	EA: SM: DS:SJ: PQ: 3E: 86D
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.