Classification of Social Resources for People with Dementia Living Alone

• Published in: Journal of Japanese Society of Geriatric & Gerontological Behavioral Sciences Vol. 29; pp. 44 - 52
• Main Authors: SUGIYAMA, Kei, NAKASHIMA, Taeko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society of Geriatric & Gerontological Behavioral Sciences 01.12.2024; 日本老年行動科学会
• Subjects: dementia; interrupting home life; Living alone; older people; social resources; 在宅生活の中断; 独居; 社会資源; 認知症; 高齢者
• ISSN: 1880-3474; 2434-0553
• DOI: 10.24777/jsbse.29.0_44

In the future, it will be crucial to identify factors that hinder individuals from accessing adequate resources because of the recent government policy promoting home support in collaboration with various social services. This study was conducted to clarify the characteristics of social resources used by people with dementia living alone at home. We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey with 1,799 in-home long-term care providers in ordinance-designated cities in western Japan, excluding Osaka City. All the respondents were care support specialists with experience in managing the care of people with dementia living alone. We asked the respondents to describe a case in which a person with dementia living alone could no longer live alone at home. They also identified the social resources they used in the past. We analyzed 520 questionnaires with no missing data from the 584 questionnaires we collected. The cases were classified into five clusters based on the social resources used. The results indicated significant differences between the clusters in terms of gender and the duration of support. Moreover, approximately 15% of the individuals had the shortest support duration and limited access to social resources.