The Psychology of Respite Care for People with Dementia in Australia

Abstract

Australian health professional bodies promote the use of respite to ease carer burden, following well-established findings that carers often face physical, mental, social, and financial strain while providing informal care. This narrative review examined the use and impacts of respite for older clients, with a particular focus on Australian research and on dementia respite. It was found that despite reports of high satisfaction from caregivers with respite use, barriers, such as caregiver concerns for the well-being and safety of the care recipient during respite, limited flexibility for short-notice respite booking, and low provision of support and education post respite, impacted on the accessibility and efficacy of respite care. It was concluded that respite care needs to move away from a custodial model to a more psychological model of care, and that more natural and flexible models (e.g., host family respite), integrated with increased post-respite support and psychosocial education, are likely to be beneficial and need further evaluation.

Literature review: use of respite by carers of people with dementia

“…Other reviews were topically or geographically limited (Tang et al . ). As a result, a lot of valuable, significant and relevant research was not covered in previous literature reviews.…”

“…, Tang et al . ). Like much respite‐related research, however, the findings relating to respite use and its association with RACF placement are conflicting.…”

“…, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare , Tang et al . ). Possible conclusions here are that if respite services are underutilised, then they may not be satisfying carer needs as identified above or there are negative connotations associated with its use (Nolan & Grant , Hanson et al .…”

Issues of accessibility to health services by older Australians: a review

“…Health care for older people from ethnic minorities can be challenging due to knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and health-seeking behaviours [ 24 ]. Central to older people accessing health care is the role of the family, duty and respect for parents and older people, religion, feelings of shame when receiving care from a non-family member, gender sensitivity and the difficulties of combining western health practices with their traditional health practices [ 14 , 24 – 26 ].…”

Informal caregivers’ experiences of caring for persons with dementia in Estonia: A narrative study

“…Their workload was affected by the caregiver's (in)experience with dementia as a specific condition, a lack of information and poor support (Abley et al, ; Karlsson et al, ; Lethin et al, ; Parker, Mills, & Abbey, ; Teel & Carson, ). The demands of a caregiver's role also influenced family relationships, employment, financial resources, social activities, well‐being and health (Gallicchio, Siddiqi, Langenberg, & Baumgarten, ; Stensletten, Bruvk, Espehaug, & Drageset, ; Tang, Ryburn, Doyle, & Wells, ; Verbeek et al, ; Verbeek‐Oudijk et al, ; Zabalegui et al, ).…”