In this thesis, I wanted to explore how relatives of people with dementia experience dementia. I wanted to know how relatives recognize, confront and accept dementia. The theoretical part contains an overview of dementia, types of dementia, the first signs and symptoms of dementia and describes changes in behaviour and personality in people with dementia. The second half of the theoretical part relates to social work with the elderly, people with dementia. The dilemmas of social workers working with people with dementia are described and social work in nursing homes is presented. In addition to models of care for people with dementia in nursing homes, the importance of family for people with dementia, the experience of dementia in relatives of people with dementia, and existing support programs for relatives of people suffering from dementia are presented. Using a partially standardized survey, I conducted six interviews for my qualitative research. I have investigated how individuals, whose family members with dementia are situated in Polzela’s retirement home are accepting dementia, who they turn to when seeking assistance and how the coronavirus pandemic has affected keeping in touch with the residents of the home. The results of the study displayed that relatives feel unpleasant emotions such as sadness, fear, stress, panic, and unpreparedness when they first learn about dementia in relatives. Dementia was very hard to accept, they have taken it with sadness, hoping the information was false, they were dismayed and in fear. The fact that a relative goes to a home was accepted with satisfaction and after some time after admittance has passed, they felt relief, gratitude, and satisfaction. If problems arise, the family will turn to the employees of Polzela’s retirement home, other family members, or support groups. The pandemic has affected and changed the way they maintain contact with the residents. Relatives experienced unpleasant emotions, the most common being fear and missing live contact. The needs of the interviewees were mainly related to the satisfaction of a relative in the nursing home. The relatives sought help from the personnel of the Polzela retirement home and through the home’s website and Facebook page.
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