The Promoting and Delaying Factors for Making a Support Network of Demented Elderly

Abstract

Objectives: This article identified the factors relating length of time for a making a support network for demented elderly managed by district nurses. The examined factors included their abnormal behavior, mental symptoms and his/her caregiving situations.

Methods: Relationships between each abnormal behavior and mental symptom of 77 demented elderly and months required to accomplish a caregiving network were examined using t-tests. And so were examined with their caregiving situations. Seventy-seven demented elderly mainly from Tokyo and Tochigi, and some from other local places, were assessed to be middle level dementia or more serious ones by their nurses using Dementia Scale developed by Karasawa.

Results: Insomnia, delusion, and seclusion were promoting factors for making caregiving network for diet, excretions, communication and money administration. And so were the caregiving situations such as caregivers’ active attitude in applying social resources and being cared by family members who live with. Delaying factors in managing a support network concerning less frequency for a patient to feel uneasy or unpleasant were abnormal behavior such as aggressiveness, rejection of care, abnormal diet, and making mess with excretions, and delusion.