Abstract

FRUET, Ana Carolina; COLOME, Juliana; SAIBT, Juliana  and  COLPO, Elisângela. Repercussions of Alzheimer’s disease in everyday`s elderly and family care. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2023, vol.24, n.1, pp.279-288.  Epub June 30, 2023. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/23psd240124.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), defined as a chronic and degenerative dementia in its clinical progressions, leads to cognitive and functional decline, associated with the impact of its diagnosis on assessments of quality of life of elderly people with AD and their caregivers. Given this perspective, the objective was to analyze the main repercussions of Alzheimer's Disease in the daily lives of the elderly and their family caregivers. The study is characterized as qualitative with the use of data collection technique based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Held in the central of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, with caregivers and elderly people with Alzheimer's Disease. Data collection from July 2018 to March 2019. The data were analyzed according to the Thematic Content Analysis. 27 elderly people and 18 family caregivers participated in the study. In the course of the study, the results pointed out questions regarding denial regarding the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, followed by adaptations to family dynamics, as well as the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms, which affect both the elderly and family caregivers, which seems to have a direct impact on the quality of life of those involved in this process. It is understood that Alzheimer's Disease causes damage to the family context, arising from the meaning of the diagnosis, the complexity of care in the face of the evolutionary process and the existence of neuropsychiatric symptoms, compromising the quality of life of both the affected elderly and family caregivers.

Keywords : Dementia; Caregivers; Quality of Life; Family Relations; Health.

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