Distillation of a comprehensive literature review concerned with respite care for older people with dementia.
Distillation of a comprehensive literature review concerned with respite care for older people with dementia.
Extended abstract:
Respite care: providing services to meet user and carer needs. Nuffield Institute for Health.Community Care Division. 1995.
Summary
This short report is a distillation of the comprehensive literature review "Respite care provision for older people with dementia: a review of the literature". The details and recommendations it contains have been extracted from the available research evidence. The aim of the report is to give practitioners and service providers evidence based information which can be applied in practice.
Context
Practice is defined in its widest sense to include organisational and managerial considerations as well as issues regarding user and carer contact. A broad interpretation of 'respite care' is used so that all areas of potential interest and concern can be covered.
Contents
The document consists of a series of points for practitioners and service providers, taken from the findings of the literature review. These are set out under the following headings:
Guiding principles for provision of quality respite services for older people with dementia and their carers, extracted from the literature
Availability of a range of different services
Flexible delivery of services
Increased eligibility and access
Equity of service delivery
Enhanced communication with carers
Effective assessment for services (including carer needs)
Effective care management
Staff training
The report then goes on to pose a series of questions for practitioners and service providers, with answers from the research review:
Why should I be particularly concerned about respite provision for people with dementia?
What are the aims of respite care?
What are the different forms of respite care and what is the best option for older people with dementia?
Is respite care a caretaking arrangement?
Isn't respite care in itself sufficient to meet carer needs?
Who can run respite care services?
How should we allocate respite care resources?
What are the benefits of respite care?
Conclusion
Respite care is of crucial importance to those carers who wish to continue to look after an older person with dementia in the community; it's value cannot be underestimated. Service providers must therefore ensure that the services they are responsible fro match the expectations and requirements of those who need them. Those in managerial positions should consider the best ways of delivering appropriate services within available resources. Staff directly involved in looking after the person with dementia have a duty to provide high quality care and need to be provided with the means by which to achieve this."
References: see main report
Subject terms:
literature reviews, older people, short break care, social care provision, carers, dementia;