Abstract:
The research deals with the quality of life of people having dementia who stay at home or in social institutions care. The objective of the research is to find out the current status of how people having dementia live, under which social and economic conditions they live, to find out the extent of their personal satisfaction with the conditions, and to compare the options, whether to stay at home or in social institutions.
A combination of research methods was used in investigation: case reports, semi-structured interview, observation and a couple of standardised question-forms: (Q-LES-Q, MMSE, ADL, IADL, Geriatric Depression Scale, Hachinski Ischaemic Score). Eleven patients took part in this research. Five people who suffered from dementia lived in their own homes and six of them lived in social institutions. Output of the research was focused on the quality of life of people suffering from any type of dementia. The results of the assessment show that elderly people are afraid of leaving their homes to live in retirement homes or in similar institutions but that they usually adapt themselves very well to the new conditions there. At the end they are satisfied there because they often lived under unsuitable conditions at their homes or they did not want to trouble other family members.
Sometimes patients live in really bad conditions at home, e.g. they have experienced some form of maltreatment and surprisingly they are still satisfied at home and they are afraid of leaving it. This implies that there is no difference between contented patients with dementia at home or in social institutions. What is important is the fact, what patients themselves expect from their life, what they prefer.
