Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers
Objective To describe the circumstances of the elderly with dementia and their caregivers’ characteristics in order to examine factors related to activities of daily living (ADL) and household income to propose a long-term care policy for rural areas of Thailand.Setting A cross-sectional study at th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2020-03-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/3/e032637.full |
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| author | Nalinee N Chuakhamfoo Pudtan Phanthunane Sirintorn Chansirikarn Supasit Pannarunothai |
| author_facet | Nalinee N Chuakhamfoo Pudtan Phanthunane Sirintorn Chansirikarn Supasit Pannarunothai |
| author_sort | Nalinee N Chuakhamfoo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To describe the circumstances of the elderly with dementia and their caregivers’ characteristics in order to examine factors related to activities of daily living (ADL) and household income to propose a long-term care policy for rural areas of Thailand.Setting A cross-sectional study at the household level in three rural regions of Thailand where there were initiatives relating to community care for people with dementia.Participants Caregivers of 140 people with dementia were recruited for the study.Primary and secondary outcome measures Socioeconomic characteristics including data from assessment of ADL and instrumental ADL and the Thai version of Resource Utilisation in Dementia were collected. Descriptive statistics were used to explain the characteristics of the elderly with dementia and the caregivers while inferential statistics were used to examine the associations between different factors of elderly patients with dementia with their dependency level and household socioeconomic status.Results Eighty-six per cent of the dementia caregivers were household informal caregivers as half of them also had to work outside the home. Half of the primary caregivers had no support and no minor caregivers. The elderly with dementia with high dependency levels were found to have a significant association with age, dementia severity, chance of hospitalisation and number of hospitalisations. Though most of these rural samples had low household incomes, the patients in the lower-income households had significantly lower dementia severity, but, with the health benefit coverage had significantly higher chances of hospitalisation.Conclusion As the informal caregivers are the principal human resources for dementia care and services in rural area, policymakers should consider informal care for the Thai elderly with dementia and promote it as the dominant pattern of dementia care in Thailand. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fe52ae49f20841fc8ffcc4eca93b3917 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-fe52ae49f20841fc8ffcc4eca93b39172024-12-06T07:30:08ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552020-03-0110310.1136/bmjopen-2019-032637Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregiversNalinee N Chuakhamfoo0Pudtan Phanthunane1Sirintorn Chansirikarn2Supasit Pannarunothai3Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, ThailandDepartment of Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Communications, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, ThailandDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, ThailandResearch unit, Centre for Health Equity Monitoring Foundation, Phitsanulok, ThailandObjective To describe the circumstances of the elderly with dementia and their caregivers’ characteristics in order to examine factors related to activities of daily living (ADL) and household income to propose a long-term care policy for rural areas of Thailand.Setting A cross-sectional study at the household level in three rural regions of Thailand where there were initiatives relating to community care for people with dementia.Participants Caregivers of 140 people with dementia were recruited for the study.Primary and secondary outcome measures Socioeconomic characteristics including data from assessment of ADL and instrumental ADL and the Thai version of Resource Utilisation in Dementia were collected. Descriptive statistics were used to explain the characteristics of the elderly with dementia and the caregivers while inferential statistics were used to examine the associations between different factors of elderly patients with dementia with their dependency level and household socioeconomic status.Results Eighty-six per cent of the dementia caregivers were household informal caregivers as half of them also had to work outside the home. Half of the primary caregivers had no support and no minor caregivers. The elderly with dementia with high dependency levels were found to have a significant association with age, dementia severity, chance of hospitalisation and number of hospitalisations. Though most of these rural samples had low household incomes, the patients in the lower-income households had significantly lower dementia severity, but, with the health benefit coverage had significantly higher chances of hospitalisation.Conclusion As the informal caregivers are the principal human resources for dementia care and services in rural area, policymakers should consider informal care for the Thai elderly with dementia and promote it as the dominant pattern of dementia care in Thailand.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/3/e032637.full |
| spellingShingle | Nalinee N Chuakhamfoo Pudtan Phanthunane Sirintorn Chansirikarn Supasit Pannarunothai Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers BMJ Open |
| title | Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers |
| title_full | Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers |
| title_fullStr | Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers |
| title_short | Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers |
| title_sort | health and long term care of the elderly with dementia in rural thailand a cross sectional survey through their caregivers |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/3/e032637.full |
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