Family carer’s experience of caring for a person affected by Alzheimer’s disease

Bibliogr s. 58-59

W artykule prezentowana jest analiza i interpretacja doświadczeń 74-letniej kobiety sprawującej opiekę nad mężem dotkniętym chorobą Alzheimera. Wyróżnione zostały dwa tematy: "trudna choroba" i "poświęcenie opiece". Artykuł zawiera również refleksje nad możliwościami wsparcia i pomocy psychoterapeutycznej osobom sprawującym opiekę nad krewnym dotkniętym chorobą Alzheimera.

The aim of the study is to present the analysis and interpretation of family carer’s experience of caring for a person affected by Alzheimer’s disease. In an interview with 74-year-old A., wife of J. diagnosed with dementia in Alzheimer’s disease, eight themes were distinguished and assigned to two higher-order themes: "The difficult disease" and "Devotion to care". The first main theme includes a reoccurring scheme, "Me vs. the disease" - an individual and lonely fight against the disease, which is treated by A. as a separate element of the situation of caring. The second main theme encompasses paradoxically bound themes of a deepening sense of strangeness and growing dependency between the carer and patient. The conclusions of the study appear to be consistent with previous research. In A.’s story, examples can be found of the so-called malignant social psychology that characterises the public perception of dementia, as well as evidence of the importance of the way of revealing the diagnosis and informing the patient and his relatives about symptoms and the probable progression of the disease. The final part of the work is a reflection on the possibilities of psychotherapeutic support and assistance given to people in a situation similar to that faced by A. What seems particularly important is providing the carer with access to information about the disease from the moment of diagnosis, along with individual work on the emotional difficulties and promoting person-centred care.