Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois lives in the western region of Switzerland. She is 78 years old at the time of the interview. Her husband, 77, who lives in a nursing home, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia four years ago. Her husband's aggressiveness and incontinence made home care impossible. Before deciding to transfer to a nursing home, Mrs. Dubois increased the amount of time her husband spent at a day program, which he had attended once a week, to ease the burden. In between, he spent several weeks in a home, where he behaved just as aggressively. Mrs. Dubois receives support from her sisters and from the nursing staff in the home. With the dementia, her marital happiness collapsed. Mrs. Dubois had worked as a doctor, running a joint practice with her husband. The imminent sale of their house feels like a great loss.
AUDIO
Mrs. Dubois believes that it is important to have multiple opportunities to receive information and ask questions; when one is directly affected or involved, it can be hard to absorb information.
Mrs. Dubois believes that it is important to have multiple opportunities to receive information and ask questions; when one is directly affected or involved, it can be hard to absorb information. She thinks it would be nice to have a chance to consult with the family doctor and a disease expert together.
Video Interview
TRANSCRIPT
Related experiences
Frau Tailler
The doctor would have offered great help if he had raised the topic of her husband’s dementia with him, says Mrs. Tailler. As it was, she was unable to address her need for support providing ongoing care.
The doctor would have offered great help if he had raised the topic of her husband’s dementia with him, says Mrs. Tailler. Not calling a spade a spade, she says, is not a relief. Mrs. Tailler believes that people with dementia should be informed about their illness because otherwise negotiating the care situation later on becomes more difficult or impossible. Now, her husband does not appreciate that she needs some formal reprieve from ongoing care.
What helps? - Caregivers' perspective
Frau Ullmann und Herr Thoma
The medications doses are ubiquitously too high, conclude Mrs. Ullmann and Mr. Thoma.
The transition from one institution to another did not work smoothly for Mr. Thoma's father in terms of medication. Instead of relowering the dosage after the transition was completed, he continued to receive the high medication dose, which severely impaired his speech, mobility, and independence. In the home where Mr. Thomas' father now lives, he receives only half the dose, and his condition has improved significantly. Mrs. Ullmann and Mr. Thoma conclude that "the dosages are set too high everywhere.
What helps? - Caregivers' perspective
Other experiences by Frau Dubois
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois lives in the western region of Switzerland. She is 78 years old at the time of the interview. Her husband, 77, who lives in a nursing home, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia four years ago. Her husband's aggressiveness and incontinence made home care impossible. Before deciding to transfer to a nursing home, Mrs. Dubois increased the amount of time her husband spent at a day program, which he had attended once a week, to ease the burden. In between, he spent several weeks in a home, where he behaved just as aggressively. Mrs. Dubois receives support from her sisters and from the nursing staff in the home. With the dementia, her marital happiness collapsed. Mrs. Dubois had worked as a doctor, running a joint practice with her husband. The imminent sale of their house feels like a great loss.
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois believes that it is important to have multiple opportunities to receive information and ask questions; when one is directly affected or involved, it can be hard to absorb information.
Mrs. Dubois believes that it is important to have multiple opportunities to receive information and ask questions; when one is directly affected or involved, it can be hard to absorb information. She thinks it would be nice to have a chance to consult with the family doctor and a disease expert together.
What helps? - Caregivers' perspective
Dementia
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois recounts an episode when she left her husband, who was behaving aggressively, to his own devices one day due to exhaustion. The situation could have put him in mortal danger, and reflecting on it causes Mrs. Dubois strong feelings of guilt.
Mrs. Dubois recounts an episode when she left her husband, who was behaving aggressively, to his own devices one day due to exhaustion. The situation could have put him in mortal danger, and reflecting on it causes Mrs. Dubois strong feelings of guilt.
Processes of adaptation
Dementia
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois has a very good connection with the nursing specialist. This influenced her decision not to move her husband to another home closer to her house.
Because Mrs. Dubois has a very good connection with the nurse, when her husband needed more care days, she decided to keep him in the same nursing home despite the fact that it was farther from her house than other options that would have been more convenient. She found the nurse comforting and understanding. Her connection with the nurse helped soften feelings of guilt that she could not live up to her ideal to care for her husband at home.
What helps? - Caregivers' perspective
Dementia
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois has an idea to get the relatives who visit the nursing home involved in engaging the dementia patient there.
Mrs. Dubois thinks about possible ways to get the residents of the nursing home more active and, based on a previous experience, she came up with the idea of involving the relatives who come to visit. Having people commit as volunteers one afternoon per month seems reasonable. She thinks communal volunteer work is a good way to keep the costs down.
What helps? - Caregivers' perspective
Dementia
Frau Dubois
Mrs. Dubois says that her husband's son has not had any contact with him. She conjectures that this might be because the son is afraid of having dementia himself one day.
Mrs. Dubois says that her husband's son has not had any contact with him. She conjectures that this might be because the son is afraid of one day having dementia himself and prefers not to face the situation since he would then consider the implications for himself.
Four levels of communication of the caregivers
Dementia
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