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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Younger people with dementia
— diagnostic issues, effects on carers and use of services | | Author(s) | Georgina Luscombe, Henry Brodaty, Stephen Freeth |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 13, no 5, May 1998 |
| Pages | pp 323-330 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Early ; Adults ; Diagnosis ; Family care ; Usage [services] ; Australia. |
| Annotation | 102 carers of under 65s with dementia recruited through support groups and clinicians' referrals participated in a self-report questionnaire survey to find out the difficulties experienced. Diagnostic problems were reported by 71% of carers: mean time until diagnosis was 3.4 years. Carers reported frustration (81%) and grief (73%). Adverse psychological effects were common, more so in female than male carers. The younger the carer, the more psychological and physical effects were experienced. Only 8% of carers considered that their children had encountered no problems because of the dementia. Of 61 working carers, 59% reduced their hours or stopped working after diagnosis, and 89% of all carers had experienced financial problems subsequent to diagnosis. Most carers (89%) had used a support service, but 25% had never used community support, and 32% had never used respite. Proportions rating services as `good' ranged between 43 and 100%. Younger people with dementia and their carers face difficulty in obtaining diagnosis. Carers also experience psychological problems, financial worries, loss of employment and family conflict, and their children are affected. Most had used services, but there was dissatisfaction. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980811005 A |
| Classmark | EA: 4J: SD: LK7: P6:SJ: QLD: 7YA |
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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