Nankinga Pia Ngoma, Maling Samuel, Chemali Zeina, Wakida Edith K, Obua Celestino, Okello Elialilia S
1Medical Simulation Center, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
2Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
Int J Ment Health Syst. 2020 May 7;14:33. doi: 10.1186/s13033-020-00364-9. eCollection 2020.
The generation of people getting older has become a public health concern worldwide. People aged 65 and above are the most at risk for Alzheimer's disease which is associated with physical and behavioral changes. This nurtures informal support needs for people living with dementia where their families together with other community members are the core providers of day to day care for them in the rural setting. Despite global concern around this issue, information is still lacking on informal support delivered to these people with dementia.
Our study aimed at establishing the nature of informal support provided for people with dementia (PWDs) and its perceived usefulness in rural communities in South Western Uganda.
This was a qualitative study that adopted a descriptive design and conducted among 22 caregivers and 8 opinion leaders in rural communities of Kabale, Mbarara and Ibanda districts in South Western Uganda. The study included dementia caregivers who had been in that role for a period of at least 6 months and opinion leaders in the community. We excluded trained health workers.
The study highlights important forms of informal support offered to PWDs such as support in activities of daily living, enabling access to medical attention, recovering misplaced items, provision of herbal remedy, informal counseling, and sourcing carers from other families to offer presence and support in the hope to impact positively on behavioral outbursts and the frustration of living with dementia.
The study revealed various forms of informal support that are available for PWDs in South Western Uganda and stressed the role of caregivers and the perceived usefulness of the care provided.
人口老龄化已成为全球公共卫生问题。65岁及以上的人群患阿尔茨海默病的风险最高，该病与身体和行为变化有关。这使得痴呆症患者产生了非正式支持需求，在农村地区，他们的家人和其他社区成员是其日常护理的核心提供者。尽管全球都在关注这个问题，但关于为这些痴呆症患者提供的非正式支持的信息仍然匮乏。
我们的研究旨在确定乌干达西南部农村社区为痴呆症患者提供的非正式支持的性质及其感知到的有用性。
这是一项定性研究，采用描述性设计，在乌干达西南部卡巴莱、姆巴拉拉和伊班达地区的农村社区对22名照顾者和8名意见领袖进行了调查。该研究包括担任照顾者角色至少6个月的痴呆症患者照顾者和社区意见领袖。我们排除了受过培训的卫生工作者。
该研究突出了为痴呆症患者提供的重要非正式支持形式，如在日常生活活动中的支持、帮助获得医疗护理、找回丢失物品、提供草药疗法、非正式咨询，以及从其他家庭寻找照顾者以提供陪伴和支持，希望对行为爆发和痴呆症带来的挫折感产生积极影响。
该研究揭示了乌干达西南部为痴呆症患者提供的各种形式的非正式支持，并强调了照顾者的作用以及所提供护理的感知有用性。
