Health Behaviour Research Collaborative, School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Aging Ment Health. 2023 May;27(5):904-910. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2022.2053833. Epub 2022 Mar 31.
Carers of people with dementia experience significant physical, emotional, and social burdens. Needs assessment can provide important information to assist services in providing support to carers to reduce these burdens. However, few studies have examined the prevalence of unmet needs experienced by carers of people with dementia using a quantitative instrument. This study aimed to examine the prevalence and type of unmet needs experienced by carers of people with dementia in Australia.
This was a cross-sectional survey of carers providing support to community-dwelling individuals living with dementia. Carers were recruited through geriatric clinics, aged care providers, support services and community organisations. Consenting carers completed a survey including an 80-item study-specific unmet needs instrument for carers (UNI-C) and sociodemographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the most prevalent unmet needs reported by carers.
A total of 169 carers (response rate 47%) completed the survey. Most (87%) carers reported at least one unmet need. Carers reported a median of 16.0 (IQR = 24.0; max = 58) out of a possible 80 unmet needs. The most frequently endorsed unmet needs spanned a range of areas including emotional wellbeing, accessing health and aged care services, managing apathy, and finding information.
This study highlighted that a large proportion of carers experience unmet needs associated with caring for someone with dementia. Developing and rigorously testing interventions to meet carers' commonly reported unmet needs are warranted.
Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2022.2053833 .
痴呆患者的照顾者承受着巨大的身体、情感和社会负担。需求评估可以提供重要信息，帮助服务机构为照顾者提供支持，以减轻这些负担。然而，很少有研究使用定量工具来评估痴呆患者照顾者的未满足需求的普遍性。本研究旨在评估澳大利亚痴呆患者照顾者的未满足需求的普遍性和类型。
这是一项对在社区居住的痴呆症患者提供支持的照顾者的横断面调查。通过老年科诊所、老年护理提供者、支持服务和社区组织招募照顾者。同意参与的照顾者完成了一项调查，包括 80 项针对照顾者的特定未满足需求量表（UNI-C）和社会人口统计学特征。使用描述性统计来确定照顾者报告的最常见的未满足需求。
共有 169 名照顾者（应答率为 47%）完成了调查。大多数（87%）照顾者报告至少有一项未满足的需求。照顾者报告了 80 项未满足需求中中位数为 16.0（IQR=24.0；最大值=58）的得分。最常被认可的未满足需求涵盖了一系列领域，包括情绪健康、获取健康和老年护理服务、管理冷漠和寻找信息。
本研究强调，很大一部分照顾者经历了与照顾痴呆症患者相关的未满足需求。有必要制定和严格测试干预措施，以满足照顾者普遍报告的未满足需求。
本文的补充数据可在 https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2022.2053833 在线获取。
