Sammendrag
Being a family caregiver to a person with dementia can cause stress and strain over time, thus increasing the risk of depression and anxiety disorders. Providing family caregivers with information, support and respite is therefore an important fundamental objective of dementia care. Day care is one of several support and respite services for family caregivers, but there was a need for more knowledge about how day care meets family caregivers’ needs. A multi-method study was designed to investigate various aspects of how day care impact on the situation and needs of family caregivers. An integrative review, a survey and two qualitative studies were used to obtain a wide range of knowledge.
The study shows that day care can help family caregivers to master a complex care role, including both positive and negative aspects. Day care can give family caregivers a sense of security, and provide them with support and respite. This service reduces the time a family caregiver spends on care, and helps them to find a balance between attending to their own needs and meeting the needs of the person with dementia. Additionally, day care can have a positive impact on the relationship and can help increase the family caregiver’s motivation to provide care in line with their care-related values and goals.
Day-care services have room for improvement with regard to offering more flexible opening hours, as well as offering content that is more individually tailored to the person with dementia. There is also room for improvement among day-care service staff in relation to giving family caregivers more empathetic support, and providing training and guidance adapted to their situation.
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