In my master's thesis, I analyse the lives of people with dementia who live in sheltered
housing. A person with dementia who lives outside of institutional care is primarily cared for
by relatives. Caring for a person with dementia is a physical and psychological burden, so
relatives are eventually no longer able to take care of a person with dementia on their own,
which results to the fact, that that the person with dementia is forced to go to a home for older
people, where he has to obey institutional rules, which in most of them are not adapted to
individuals or their wishes and needs. One of the possible alternatives offered for prolonging
the stay of a person with dementia in the home environment is sheltered housing. The focus of
my thesis is to investigate the quality of life of people with dementia in sheltered housing.
Sheltered housing is for people who need help with their daily lives. On the other hand, they
help to maintain the independence of people with dementia, and they also leave them with
dignity and intimacy, which is often denied to people in homes for older people. The research
is qualitative, consisting of different themes, from which I present the results on the quality of
life of people with dementia in shelter housing. Due to the nature of the disease, a person with
dementia needs help from another person. The amount of help depends on the level of dementia.
Relatives who are actively involved in the care of someone with dementia also play a major
role in the quality of life of the person with dementia. My research has helped me to identify
the advantages and disadvantages of living with dementia in sheltered housing. People with
dementia do not feel a great need for help from another person, while relatives cite the lack of
health care and supervision, as people with dementia have in homes for older people, as a major
disadvantage. I found that the relatives were the primary instigators of the move to the sheltered
housing because of its architectural adaptations. People with dementia should be able to choose
the optimal form of living for their individual characteristics, needs and preferences.
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