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MALTATODAY 25 August 2019

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5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 AUGUST 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO RESPONSIBILITY for taking care of relatives living with de- mentia in their homes is most likely to fall on women and daughters, a study recently published in the Malta Journal of Health Sciences reveals. The study also reports high levels of satisfaction with services offered in Dementia Activity Centres, but shows a lack of awareness and knowl- edge on a variety of services offered to both patients and care-givers. The study, authored by Char- maine Spiteri and Charles Scerri, shows that 71% of in- formal care-givers for per- sons living with dementia are women, while 45% are the daughters of these persons, closely followed by spouses or partners (42%). Only 11% were sons while 3% were siblings. This is interpreted as confir- mation that "informal caregiv- ing in the Maltese Islands is mostly regarded as an activity cared for by the female gen- der." One reason cited for this is that "daughters, acting as primary care-givers are more likely to experience guilt and may have to relinquish or re- duce employment to take up a primary caring role". The study was based on the responses to a questionnaire among 50 care-givers who make use of Dementia Activ- ity Centres, 38 of which re- turned the questionnaire. Care-givers had a mean age of 60 and on average spent more than 20 hours per day in care-giving. Bathing (95%), handling of medication (95%) and trans- portation (92%) were the three top activities that care-givers indicated that they needed help with. 90% also indicated that they need emotional sup- port. Services that informal care- givers utilised the most in- cluded the Active Ageing Cen- tres that are located across the Maltese islands. These were followed by KartAnzjan, the Pharmacy of Your Choice, the Dementia Wards located at St Vincent de Paul, the Con- tinence Service and the Tel- ecare Plus. All participants were satis- fied with the Dementia Activ- ity Centres. But the study indicates that care-givers were not using a number of dementia-specific services that were available and aimed at supporting them in their care-giving roles. These included the organi- sation of Memory Classes for individuals who have re- cently received a diagnosis of dementia and their informal care-givers, the Memory Clin- ics (Paola and Floriana Health Centres) the Rehabilitation Hospital Karin Grech, and the availability of the Dementia Intervention Team. However, most informal care-givers had knowledge about the avail- ability of the Dementia Hel- pline. Only 63.2% of informal care- givers were aware that a Na- tional Dementia Strategy was available in the Maltese Is- lands. The survey was carried out in 2017. Daughters most likely to care for dementia patients PHOTO BY CRISTIAN NEWMAN

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