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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Best practice for providing social care and support to people living with concurrent sight loss and dementia
— professional perspectives | | Author(s) | Simon Chester Evans, Jennifer Bray |
| Journal title | Working with Older People, vol 20, no 2, 2016 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2016 |
| Pages | pp 86-93 |
| Source | www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/wwop.htm |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Visual impairment ; Services ; Health services ; Housing [elderly] ; Usage [services] ; Standards of provision ; Projects. |
| Annotation | Some 100,000 people in the UK aged 75 and over have concurrent dementia and sight loss, but current understanding of their experiences, needs and preferences is limited. This paper reports on a research project that explored the provision of social care and support for older people with both conditions. The project was a collaboration between the universities of York, Worcester, Bournemouth and Cambridge, supported by the Thomas Pocklington Trust and the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium. Data were drawn from focus groups held in 2013 involving 47 professionals across the dementia, sight loss and housing sectors across three geographical regions of England. Thematic analysis identified five main barriers to providing high-quality, cost-effective social care and support: time constraints; financial limitations; insufficient professional knowledge; a lack of joint working; and inconsistency of services. The requirements of dementia and sight loss often conflict, which can limit the usefulness of equipment, aids and adaptations. Support and information needs to address individual needs and preferences. However, unless professionals consider dementia and sight loss together, they are unlikely to think about the impact of both conditions and the potential of their own services to provide effective support for individuals and their informal carers. Failing to consider both conditions together can also limit the availability and accessibility of social care and support services. There are growing numbers of people living with concurrent dementia and sight loss, many of whom wish to remain living in their own homes. There is limited awareness of the experiences and needs of this group, and limited provision of appropriate services aids/adaptations. Among measures that should be implemented to support independence and well-being for people living with both conditions and their family carers are: increased awareness, improved assessment, more training, and greater joint working. People living with dementia or sight loss are at high risk of social isolation, increasingly so for those with both conditions. Services that take an inclusive approach to both conditions can provide crucial opportunities for social interaction. Extra care housing has the potential to provide a supportive, community-based environment that can help residents to maintain social contact. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-160603202 A |
| Classmark | EA: BR: I: L: KE: QLD: 583: 3E |
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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