| Popis: |
By 2050, Spain is projected to be home to the largest amount of elders in the world, due to a combination of high life expectancy, low birth rates, and the baby boomer generation entering their elder years. Consequently, in the next decades, Spain will have one of the highest dependency rates in the world. The country has nearly 800,000 people with dementia, with more than half in a situation of dependency. A conservative estimate suggests that the cost of each dependent is approximately 30,000 euros per year. When extended to all Spaniards with dementia, the cost reaches 24,000 million euros a year between direct costs for medical and professional care and indirect costs to caregivers and relatives who must alter their working life. Meanwhile, the dependency subsidy suffers from administrative blockages and budget cuts. The situation brings enormous challenge, affecting the patient, the caregiver, and the nature of care. Effective intervention for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias increasingly includes the presence of psychologists specialized in the care of older adults. Psychologists work in both public and private settings including hospital units (memory units, dementia units, psychiatric units, etc.), day centers, residential centers, and universities and research centers. There is increasing use and evidence of the effectiveness of psychosocial, or non-pharmacological, interventions to address cognitive symptoms, such as altered memory or language, and especially psychological and behavioral symptoms associated with dementia, such as depression, anxiety, delusional disorders, altered behavior, etc., with advantages over psychotropic drugs with respect to greater effectiveness and fewer side effects. |
