REDUCING BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN DEMENTIA--DAY CARE USE

对患有痴呆症的人的护理是复杂的， 压力很大，而且往往很贵。家庭面临的各种问题 照顾者，行为和情绪上的障碍是压力最大的 往往会导致照看情况的崩溃和 把病人送进医院。其中一种更有希望的方法是 解决居住在社区的患者的护理需求是通过 成人日间服务计划(ADS)，提供有组织的活动 利用病人的剩余能力，给照顾者喘息的机会 来自他们面临的往往是持续的压力。在我们之前的工作中，我们 研究小组，我们发现，为亲属登记的照顾者 进入ADS计划的痴呆症患者的护理显著减少- 与对照组相比，相关的压力源和改善的幸福感。 这项拟议的研究通过探索广告对 痴呆症患者的行为和情绪。广告可能会影响行为和 通过让患者参与有组织的活动来保持情绪。通过放松 家庭照顾者面临的问题，广告的使用也可能减少使用 健康和长期护理服务。拟议的研究将使用 准实验、非等效组设计。痴呆症患者 正在启动一项广告计划，他们的照顾者将被比作 不使用这些服务的对照组。据推测， 使用ADS的痴呆症患者将显著减少 随着时间的推移，行为问题和抑郁症状 控制。我们还期待广告组的护理员将 体验减少与护理相关的压力和改善的幸福感，以及 将比对照使用更少的健康和长期护理服务 一群人。这些变化将通过改进其 亲属的行为。

Care for people suffering from a dementing illness is complicated, stressful, and often expensive. Of the various problems faced by family caregivers, disturbances in behavior and mood are the most stressful and often lead to the breakdown of the caregiving situation and institutionalization of the patient. One of the more promising ways of addressing care needs for patients living in the community is through adult day service programs (ADS), which provide structured activities that utilize patients' remaining abilities and give caregivers a break from the often continuous pressures they face. In previous work by our research group, we found that caregivers who enrolled a relative with dementia into an ADS program experienced significant reductions in care- related stressors and improved well-being, compared to a control group. The proposed study extends that work by exploring the effects of ADS on the behavior and mood of dementia patients. ADS may affect behavior and mood by keeping patients involved in structured activities. By easing the problems faced by family caregivers, ADS use may also reduce use of health and long term care services. The proposed study will use a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent group design. People with dementia who are starting an ADS program and their caregivers will be compared to a control group not using these services. It is hypothesized that dementia patients using ADS will experience significant reductions in behavior problems and depressive symptoms over time, compared to controls. We also expect that caregivers in the ADS group will experience decreases in care-related stress and improved well-being, and will use fewer health and long-term care services than the control group. These changes will be mediated by improvements in their relative's behavior.