Patients with Dementia and Epilepsy: Does Family and Kinship Care Matters?

Abstract

Paper reports nine Case Studies each of epilepsy and dementia patients. Content analysis of family and kinship care in their families reveals significant issues of social stigma, marriage, school education, employment etc. among epilepsy patients as main concern while care of dementia patients in family concerns to spouse caring. It explores stigma affecting socio-cultural understanding of epilepsy and dementia. How these patients are cared within their family. Who care them most? It illuminates relevance of family and kinship care givers and recommend culturally appropriate interventions in community of such neuropsychiatric diseases.

Caring Women with Dementia: An Unheard or Hidden Suffering

“…We feel about a care giving model for the north Indian population groups which should be home based care coupled with regular training about the modalities of caring must be given to the family and kinship members of the women with dementia [22]. Their care giver should be provided material and other relevant information about such diseases.…”

“…These can reduce the level of agitation and anxiety in women with dementia. The challenge for developing countries like India is to develop culturally appropriate interventions that can be delivered, within existing resources, as support to the role as caregivers in their families [22].…”

“…Anthropologists have reformulated the kinship as the study of form of caring and being cared for [21]. The family and kinship care is the complementary part of comprehensive patient care in the families of patients with dementia and epilepsy [22]. In this paper we are illuminating the four women with dementia; their family based kinship care dynamics, their importance and issues relating to primary care giver within the family situations.…”

Personhood-Based Dementia Care: Using the Familial Caregiver as a Bridging Model for Professional Caregivers

“…In America, medical rationalizations largely account for the increasing population of elderly individuals inhabiting nursing homes as opposed to home care settings. In contrast, the "culturally appropriate" search for healing of Alzheimer's in India is to: "design a program for family and kinship caregivers in the management of these diseases" (Singh et al 2013: 62); a program that "has reduc[ed] the level of agitation and anxiety in patients with dementia" (Brodaty & Gresham, 1989;Haupt, Karger, & Janner, 2000, in Singh et al 2013. In America, the majority of money for Alzheimer's and dementia research is geared toward "prevention by means of molecular manipulations" (Lock 2013:8).…”

School Children with Epilepsy: Their Voice, Our Concerns

“…Anthropologists have reformulated the kinship as the study of form of caring and being cared for [2]. The family and kinship care is the complementary part of comprehensive patient care in the families of patients with dementia and epilepsy [3].…”