Research support for a growing number living with dementia

MEDIA RELEASE

Research support for a growing number living with dementia

8 July 2013: Information and education are necessary prerequisites in preparing family carers for what is to come in looking after someone with dementia, according to Ita Buttrose, writing in the Foreword to Living with Dementia: A practical guide for families and personal carers.

Published by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Living with Dementia is designed to provide support and advice to the estimated 200 000 informal carers of people with dementia in Australia,1 as well as support and advice for paid carers.

Ms Buttrose, National President of Alzheimer’s Australia, understands only too well the full-time responsibility and the heartache that comes with caring for someone with dementia, having cared for her father when he was diagnosed with vascular dementia.

“Perhaps the most difficult part of caring for someone with dementia is that the dementia itself is so unpredictable in the way that it affects individuals, the way it changes behaviours, emotions and the capacity of the individual to undertake tasks,” Ms Buttrose said.

In Living with Dementia, academics, nurses, aged care professionals and family advocates address evidence-based research, real-world vignettes and practical strategies to support caregivers, paid and unpaid, whether in the home or in residential care settings.

“This book is a wonderful resource for carers of people with dementia; both family carers and paid carers. It provides many useful insights into the care and support of people with dementia,” Ms Buttrose said.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2011 around 70 per cent of the
298 000 Australians suffering from dementia lived in the community. Based on projections of population ageing and growth, it is predicted that the number of people with dementia in Australia will reach almost 400 000 by 2020 and 900 000 by 2050.

Print copies of Living with Dementia: A practical guide for families and personal carers (ACER Press, 2013), by editors Esther Chang and Amanda Johnson, can be purchased from the ACER Online Shop or by contacting customer service on 1800 338 402 or via email on sales@acer.edu.au

1 AIHW 2012. Dementia in Australia. Cat. no. AGE 70. Canberra: AIHW.

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Media enquiries: Steve Holden, 03 9277 5582 or 0419 340 058 communications@acer.edu.au