Dementelcoach; Evaluation of telephone support for carers of people with dementia (WC2009-017)
Background
Starting date: 01/04/2009 From reseach it is known for several decades that informal carers of people with dementia are heavily burdened, that they experience more health problems, such as depression and psychosomatic problems, than their peers, that they visit their GP more often than their peers, use more medication and are frequently socially isolated. It is estimated that 40% of the carers of people with moderate to severe dementia have physical and psychological problems (Alzheimer Nederland, 2003). From a preventive perspective it is therefore highly necessary to develop effective forms of support to help informal carers to execute their heavy care task in a satisfactory way.Though in the past twenty years several types of carer support are developed, such as carer support centers, Meeting centers for people with dementia and their carers, respite care and interval admittance in nursing homes, it has become clear that part of the carers do not utilize this support. Therefore in the region Amersfoort-Leusden the project Dementelcoach was set up, in which trained telephone Coaches once every two weeks offer telephone support to carers of community dwelling people with dementia. The effcetiveness of this new formof support is investigated in an evaluation study.