A look at the Alzheimer support center Viseu

Abstract

Introduction: Every 3 seconds, a new case of dementia is diagnosed around the world, amounting around 9.9 million of new cases in 2015. (Prince, et al., 2015) Dementia is an acquired organic syndrome, usually chronic, characterized by the progressive loss of cognitive and functional capacities due to the gradual degeneration of the several cerebral zones. It compromises the personal, family, professional and social life of the individual, severely affecting their autonomy and independence. (Nunes, 2014)

Objective: To disseminate the work developed by the Centro de Apoio ao Alzheimer Viseu (CAAV); To characterize the profile and needs of caregivers who seek the services of CAAV.

Methods: An exploratory study developed based on data from a sample of 166 caregivers of people with dementia who recruited the CAAV between 2014 and 2017. They are mostly informal caregivers (137), who at some point provided full-time support to the patient without any outside help, with female demand prevailing with 128 requests for support against 38 male caregivers.

Results: The most sought after services in CAAV are: technical, social / medical / legal support, as well as psychological support and support group. Most of the people who request these services are women, especially the patients' daughters (49%), followed by the spouses (27%), with Alzheimer dementia being the most frequently referred pathology.

Conclusions: The results show that the CAAV assumes an entity with individual and social impact, so based on the Person Centered Care model, CAAV intends in the short and medium term to create new services to support the needs and demands of people with dementia and their caregivers.