Practitioners’ understanding of barriers to accessing specialist support by family carers of people with dementia in distress

Manthorpe, Jill; Hart, Cathryn; Watts, Sue; Goudie, Fiona; Charlesworth, Georgina; Fossey, Jane; Moniz-Cook, Esme

Abstract

Distressing symptoms in dementia are hard to manage for many family carers. This article explores practitioners’ perceptions of the barriers to accessing skilled behaviour management support encountered by carers. A survey of cases referred to the English National Health Service (n = 5,360) was followed by in-depth group discussions and practitioner interviews. Data revealed that practitioners focused on care home residents or older people with mental health problems other than dementia, rather than community-dwelling people with dementia and families. Barriers to access included misperceptions about the nature of distressing behaviour affecting carers and structural limitations in the capacity of specialist services to respond to carers.

Citation

Manthorpe, J., Hart, C., Watts, S., Goudie, F., Charlesworth, G., Fossey, J., & Moniz-Cook, E. (2018). Practitioners’ understanding of barriers to accessing specialist support by family carers of people with dementia in distress. International Journal of Care and Caring, 2(1), 109-123. https://doi.org/10.1332/239788218X15187915193354

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2018
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Deposit Date: May 3, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 1, 2019
• Journal: International Journal of Care and Caring
• Print ISSN: 2397-8821
• Publisher: Policy Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 109-123
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/239788218X15187915193354
• Keywords: Carers; Challenging behaviour; Community mental health teams for older people; Dementia
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/757160
• Publisher URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/ijcc/2018/00000002/00000001/art00007
• Additional Information: This is the accepted version of an article published at the DOI link in this record. Please cite the published version.
• Contract Date: May 4, 2018