ABSTRACT
Several phenomena of concern to clinicians are occurring simultaneously: an increase in the number of people afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease (AD),1
the impact of AD on care providers2 and a trend towards delivering comprehensive, streamlined and cost-effective health care.1,3-5 There is also a movement on the part of policy-makers to shift the responsibility for long-term caregiving to individuals and their families. In reality, families have always provided most of the care to their frail elderly relatives.6-8
Families provide 70-80 per cent of the care received by the elderly.9-11 There is no indication that this pattern is different today than it was in the recent past.12 As a result, families are bearing the burden of caring for AD patients who have greater functional disabilities at home for longer periods of time.6,8,11-15
We recognize that the elderly prefer to remain at home and that, as they become frail, they receive most of their care from their informal network.2,3,8,13 As the course of caregiving can be long and gradual deterioration in the care recipient is to be expected, families need assistance in this increasingly onerous task.8,16 It is at this juncture that we need to examine the role that community-based formal support services can play in assisting families in maintaining their loved one at home.
