A mixed method investigation of people with dementia in transition from general hospital to care homes

Holland, Caroline; Katz, Jeanne; Mitchell, Kathryn and Thein, Nwe (2011). A mixed method investigation of people with dementia in transition from general hospital to care homes. In: British Society of Gerontology 40th Annual Conference: "Understanding and Promoting the Value of Older Age", 5-7 Jul 2011, Plymouth, UK.

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Abstract

This paper describes findings from a recently completed two-phase study of ‘what happens to people in general hospital who are identified with dementia’ undertaken by a multi-disciplinary research team. The first phase of the study consisted of an on-ward semi-structured interview with the person with dementia (PWD) if they were assessed as being able to respond to the interview questions, and also with a person who self-identified as a family member involved in their care at that stage.

We recruited 111 pairs of PWD and their carers from patients referred to a specialist psychiatric liaison service in two general hospitals in England. Data was also obtained about quality of life (QoL-AD and EQ5-D0), severity of dementia (MMSE), carer stress (GHQ), activities of daily living (I-ADL) physical illness and depressive symptoms (GDS), and economic data on care services and resources. Where possible these measures were repeated at six months and again at twelve months after baseline. In the second phase of the study we identified a sub-set of 15 PWD who were to move into a care home on discharge. With their self-designated family carers, they participated in an in-depth qualitative study of their experiences pre, during and post hospital admission and the transition to care home living. This paper focuses on themes identified in the second phase of the study, incorporating relevant data from the first study.

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