Article published by Dr. Claudia Miranda, director of MICARE, with Thamara Tapia Muñoz, Andrea Slachevsky, María O. León-Campos, Michel Madrid, Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar and Gustav C. Rohde.
The needs of people with dementia (PWD) have not been evaluated in any Latin American country. The aim of this study was to identify satisfied and unsatisfied needs in Chilean elderly people with dementia, through interviews.
Main results:
The most frequent needs met were “Looking after home”, “Food” and “Self-care”. The most common unsatisfied needs were “Daily living activities”, “Company” and “Memory”.
Cares’ lower age was correlated to a higher number of PWD’s unmet needs. The best predictors of unmet needs were carers’ low level of social support, high burden, young age and high level of anxiety.
Conclusion: It is necessary to address the psychological and social needs of PWD. The fact that PWD’s unmet needs were associated mostly with carers’ factors, highlights the importance of considering both, the PWD and their informal carers as targets of institutional support.
