National Heart and Lung Institute, 4615Imperial College London, London, UK.
Social Sciences & Health, 3057Durham University, Durham, UK.
Dementia (London). 2023 May;22(4):807-819. doi: 10.1177/14713012231158859. Epub 2023 Feb 21.
Dementia is recognized globally as a massive burden on public health and wider society. It is a major cause of disability and mortality amongst older people. China has the largest population of people with dementia worldwide, accounting for approximately 25% of the entire global population of people with dementia. The study investigated the perceived experiences of care giving and care receiving in China, with one area identified in the data concerning the extent to which the participants discussed death. The research also explored the meaning of living with dementia in modern China, where the economy, demography and culture are rapidly changing.
The qualitative approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis was used for this study. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection.
The paper reports on one specific finding concerning death as a way out of the situation that participants found themselves in.
The study described and interpreted one of the specific issues, 'death', in the participants' narratives. This finding reflects how psychological and social factors, such as stress, social support, healthcare cost, caring burden and medical practice have created the participants' thoughts of 'wishing to die' and the reasons why they believe 'death is a way to reduce burden'. It calls for an understanding, supportive social environment and a reconsideration of a culturally and economically appropriate family-based care system.
痴呆症在全球范围内被公认为对公共卫生和更广泛的社会的巨大负担。它是老年人残疾和死亡的主要原因。中国是世界上痴呆症患者人数最多的国家，约占全球痴呆症患者总数的 25%。本研究调查了中国在照顾者和被照顾者方面的感知经验，其中一个数据领域涉及参与者讨论死亡的程度。该研究还探讨了在经济、人口和文化迅速变化的现代中国，与痴呆症共存的意义。
本研究采用解释现象学分析的定性方法。使用半结构化访谈进行数据收集。
本文报告了一个关于死亡作为参与者所处情况的出路的具体发现。
本研究描述并解释了参与者叙述中的一个具体问题，即“死亡”。这一发现反映了心理和社会因素（如压力、社会支持、医疗保健费用、照顾负担和医疗实践）如何导致参与者产生“想死”的想法，以及他们认为“死亡是减轻负担的一种方式”的原因。这需要建立一个理解、支持性的社会环境，并重新考虑一个文化和经济上适当的以家庭为基础的护理系统。
