The Family's Experience of Sharing the Care of a Person with Dementia with the Services in Specialized Day-Care Units

BACKGROUND: Services in specialized day-care units for individuals with dementia are set up to enable these persons to live in their own home. The purpose of this paper is to discern the experiences of families with these services while caring for a close relative with dementia. METHOD: Longitudinal interviews with 8 family members were conducted. In total, 25 interviews were carried out over a period of 5 years. RESULTS: The experience of these families of looking after a close person with dementia appeared to be influenced by (a) the multifaceted meaning of ties, (b) the perception of purposeful relief of the day-care services and (c) the progress of the disease. CONCLUSION: All families found the services of specialized day-care units both useful and pleasant. This kind of resource was shown to make everyday life much more manageable for all persons involved, most importantly for the patient with dementia.