Abstract
In the UK, approximately 850,000 people are living with dementia, and 2/3 is been care for my informal caregivers. Caring for people with dementia can be burdensome and the caregivers experience physical, psychological, and financial burdens including social isolation, which negatively influences their quality of life.
The dissertation aims to investigate the impact of dementia caring on the quality of life of people with dementia caregivers. The aim was broken down into three (3) objectives:
(i) To identify the various challenges which affect the caregiver's quality of life.
(ii) To explore factors that can alleviate caregivers' burden and improve quality of life.
(iii) To investigate how collaboration and access to services can influence caregiver's resilience.
A systematic computerised literature search was done that resulted in 15 peer-review papers (14 qualitative and 1 quantitative methodology) published between 2012- 2019 concerning caregivers of people with dementia. A thematic analysis was used to identify 5 themes (i) resilience, (ii) Services, (iii) quality of life, (iv) access, and (v) collaboration.
The study reveals that factors such as inadequate information and how to access care services, lack of key personnel to facilitate services support and insufficient social support cause the caregivers to experience negative wellbeing. Combine with physical and psychological challenges and lack of social networks create a negative quality of life for dementia caregivers.