International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jun 2012
Care at the end of life for people with dementia living in a care home: a qualitative study of staff experience and attitudes.
The aim of this study is to examine barriers and facilitators to care home staff delivering improved end-of-life care for people with dementia. ⋯ The staff require education and support about discussing and implementing plans around care at the end of life in dementia and about cultural issues around death to improve practice. This would enable the staff to implement advance care plans, knowing that they will be supported. Education would encompass communicating the complicated, unpredictable path of dementia near the time of death explicitly but sensitively, including recognising that people often do not hear difficult messages and are unable to take on large quantities of information at once. The staff need to know about the resident's religious and cultural ideas as well as ritual practice.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jun 2012
ReviewSystematic review of services providing information and/or advice to people with dementia and/or their caregivers.
Information is a key part of service provision to people with dementia and their carers, but there is no systematic review of the evidence. This study aimed to determine whether information services confer significant benefit for quality of life, neuropsychiatric symptoms and carer burden. ⋯ There is some support for the value of information services, but studies are needed to determine the specific elements that are effective.