Researching the social aspects of dementia from a social work perspective

Mali, Jana (author), Štambuk, Ana (author)

The issues associated with dementia are challenging for social workers, who have a lotof direct contact with people with dementia, as well as their support networks. Thesenetworks play a key role in the care of people with dementia. Social workers differ fromother professionals in that they are aware of the urgency of attending to social justice, aswell as the implementation of human rights, participation and equality. Recognising theexperiences of people with dementia is of paramount relevance to social work, as it providesinsight into their needs and the aptness of existing forms of assistance in responding to theirneeds. Through this approach, those working in social work strive to find new forms of helpto enable people with dementia to live independently in their community. It is importantto find ways to involve people with dementia as active co-creators in the helping processand in exploring the social perspectives of dementia. In the present paper, we present theliterature review on experience of researching dementia from a social work perspective inSlovenia and Croatia - two countries with similarities in the development of social workand its research. The inclusion of people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in researchis very complex. Both professionals working with people with dementia (formal caregivers)and family members (mostly informal caregivers) face various difficulties and pressures. Itis therefore important to consider research ethics and respect existing legal frameworksand informed consent. An individualised approach should be used to include people withdementia in research to meet their need for personal worth and dignity (despite numerousmental and functional deficits). Ultimately, all research should strive to determine the truesituation of people with dementia and their needs, with the aim of using and developingtheir remaining abilities to improve the quality of life for both those people and those whoprovide care for them.

• Language: English
• Keywords: social work, dementia, ethics, user’s perspective, needs assessment
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FSD - Faculty of Social Work
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2023
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 1-15
• Numbering: [Vol.] 20, [no.] 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-161945
• UDC: 364.4:616.892.3
• ISSN on article: 1854-0031
• DOI: 10.51936/aczv5975
• COBISS.SI-ID: 196162819
• Publication date in RUL: 17.09.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Metodološki zvezki
• Publisher: Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 1854-0031
• COBISS.SI-ID: 215796992

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: socialno delo, demenca, etika, osebe z demenco, potrebe

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0058
• Name: Socialno delo kot nosilec procesov družbenega vključevanja in socialne pravičnosti v Sloveniji - teoretske podlage, metodološke in metodične usmeritve in zgodovinski razvoj

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J5-2567
• Name: Dolgotrajna oskrba ljudi z demenco v teoriji in praksi socialnega dela