Assessing quality of life of the lived experience in elderly with dementia.

Abstract

The seniors in India now constitute 9% of total population, and the prevalence of dementia is also rising. There is very less research happening in people with dementia. The approach to research quality of life in people with dementia especially their lived experiences, differs from general population. Involving the people with dementia itself is a challenging task. The main objectives of doing the research will be to know the person living with dementia, secondly their lived experiences and thirdly its impact on their quality of life. The multidimensional approach using interview method will be suitable especially in early stage of dementia. In developing countries, factors like illiteracy, superstition and low awareness about research hampers research work in people with dementia. The various approaches in understanding the persons lived experiences requires skills and patience in researcher. This review is an attempt to share the issues that are to be faced while doing research on people with dementia especially those living in developing countries and that too in rural areas. The challenges are the ethical, communication, understanding local factors that influence quality of life and involving person with dementia along with family members. Various studies which have overcome these challenges has been mentioned here so that it will assist in research process.