Study Findings from Chungnam National University Provide New Insights into Dementia (Toward standardizing family caregiving competencies based on the stage of dementia): Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions – Dementia

2024 JAN 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- Fresh data on dementia are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Chungnam National University by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Background & Despite of the introduction of the formal care system such as long term care insurance system, informal family caregiving still takes an important part in caring for people with dementia. In an environment where family caregiving is not performed properly, the quality of life of both the dementia patient and the family caregiver deteriorates, leading to early admission to a facility and an increase in social costs.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Chungnam National University: “This study aimed to identify the importance of family caregiving competencies in different dementia stages from the perspective of the family caregiver. This study recruited 210 family caregivers of people with dementia. Data collection was conducted by using a self-report questionnaire. The participant scored the extent of the importance of dementia caregiving competency according to stages of dementia: early, middle, and advanced stage. The data were illustrated as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The importance of family caregiving competency was statistically different according to age, gender, education level, and relationship between people with dementia and family caregivers. The family caregivers refer to the following items as critical competencies: using cognitive programs for people with dementia in the early stage; creating a safe living environment in the middle stage; and managing the physical symptoms such as bedsores, incontinence, and diseases of the people with dementia, and properly utilizing necessary long-term care services in the advanced stage.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study indicated the differences of the importance of family caregiving competencies between each stage of dementia from the perspective of family caregivers. The results of this study are valuable data to standardize effective programs for family caregivers during the different stage of dementia.”

For more information on this research see: Toward standardizing family caregiving competencies based on the stage of dementia. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 2023,19(S20). The publisher for Alzheimer’s & Dementia is Wiley.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.072921.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jinju Kim, Chungnam National University, College of Nursing, Daejeon, Korea Republic of (South). Additional authors for this research include Jihye Jung, Thao Doan, Myonghwa Park.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)