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Living Alone With Mild-to-Moderate Dementia Over a Two-Year Period: Longitudinal Findings From the IDEAL Cohort

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Laura GambleORCiD, Professor Fiona MatthewsORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2024 The Authors. Objectives: To compare the experiences of people with dementia living alone or with others and how these may change over two years. Design: We analysed longitudinal data from three assessment waves, one year apart, in the British IDEAL cohort. Setting: Participants with mild-to-moderate dementia were recruited through National Health Service providers, where possible with a family caregiver, and interviewed at home. Participants: The current analyses include 281 people with dementia living alone and 1,244 living with others at baseline; follow-up data were available for 200 and 965 respectively at time 2 and 144 and 696 respectively at time 3. For those living alone, 140 nonresident caregivers contributed at baseline, 102 at time 2 and 81 at time 3. For those living with others, 1,127 family caregivers contributed at baseline, 876 at time 2 and 670 at time 3. Measurements: Assessments covered: cognitive and functional ability; self-reported perceptions of health, mood, social engagement, quality of life, satisfaction with life and well-being; use of in-home and community care; and transitions into residential care. Results: People living alone tended to have better cognitive and functional ability and were more frequent users of in-home care. However, they experienced poorer physical, social, and psychological health and reduced quality of life, satisfaction with life, and well-being. These differences persisted over time and rates of transition into residential care were higher. Conclusions: To facilitate continuing in place for people with dementia living alone, a dual focus on supporting functional ability and addressing psychosocial needs is essential in the context of an enabling policy framework.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Clare L, Gamble LD, Martyr A, Henderson C, Knapp M, Matthews FE, IDEAL study team

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Year: 2024

Volume: 32

Issue: 11

Pages: 1309-1321

Print publication date: 01/11/2024

Online publication date: 06/06/2024

Acceptance date: 29/05/2024

Date deposited: 01/07/2024

ISSN (print): 1064-7481

ISSN (electronic): 1545-7214

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2024.05.012

DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2024.05.012

Data Access Statement: IDEAL data were deposited with the UK data archive in April 2020. Details of how to access the data can be found here: https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/854293/.

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