Caring for Older Adults with Dementia

Abstract

In light of increasing life expectancy and population aging, healthcare systems today face the challenge of addressing the care-related needs of an increasingly aging population. Aging compounded with physical and neurological deteriorations means greater caregiving demands for both the formal healthcare sector and informal care from family members and friends. Unpaid informal caregiving is cost effective for the healthcare system as a whole; however, providing care for a family member with dementia can negatively impact the health of the caregiver. The increasing development and deployment of assistive technology is predicted to alleviate caregiving burden and allow the older person with dementia to remain independent and continue to live at home for as long as possible. This chapter presents the landscape of information on informal caregiving for patients with dementia and its associated caregiving burden. It also discusses the evidence available on the potential of assistive technology for alleviating informal caregiving burden. The chapter concludes with some considerations about the governance of assistive technology. It argues that assistive technologies that are proven to be clinically effective should be made fairly and ubiquitously available to improve the quality of life of the person with dementia and his or her family caregiver. This is important to ensure the sustainability of the overall healthcare system.