Living with dementia patients is very different from living with normal older persons, because of the way dementia impacts behaviour.
Dementia caregivers need to understand and prepare for the caregiving role. They have to plan for care related activities, and adjust the home to make it suitable for the patient. Several caregiving skills are required–to communicate with dementia patients, to help them, to cope with their ‘challenging behaviour’, and to support them right through till the last stage of dementia, when patients are fully dependent. Coordination is required across various stakeholders. Caregivers get tired and stressed, and need help.
This section provides dementia caregivers information on a variety of relevant topics. All material is written from a caregiver perspective, and while it may be useful to all caregivers (given the universality of the problems), the context assumed here (for specific suggestions and examples) is India.
- Dementia Home Care: An Overview
- Understand the caregiver’s role
- Plan care for various stages of dementia
- Adapt the home for dementia patients
- Caregiving Essential Toolkit
- Improve the patient’s quality of life
- Coordinate caregiving between family members
- Caregiver emotions and stress
- How relatives/ friends/ colleagues can help
- Long-Distance Caregiving for Dementia Patients in India
Resources to learn more are available at Resources and Downloads. To understand more about the experiences dementia caregivers in India face, see the menu option Caregiver Voices.
