Every two years, Alzheimer Nederland conducts a study into the impact on, and support available for those providing home care for people with dementia. In particular, partners of people with dementia indicate that they have felt more under strain since the corona crisis, namely 72%. Among children who perform the role of carer for a parent or parent-in-law, 64% indicate that they feel more impacted. The increase in the perceived care burden is due to receiving less formal and informal support during the corona crisis. This is evident from the Caregiving Dementia Monitor, which is carried out every two years by Alzheimer Nederland, in collaboration with NIVEL Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel). For this seventh survey, a total of 3,577 home carers of people with dementia completed a questionnaire about the perceived burden of care, the impact of caregiving on their social life and about their experiences with support and care.
Among carers who receive support from volunteers, 42% indicate that they receive less support than before the crisis. Among carers who receive support from day centres, this figure is 45%. On a more positive note, however, 27% of the carers who receive support from neighbours have actually received more support from them since the crisis began.
The current survey by the Caregiving Dementia Monitor not only provides insight into the consequences of the corona crisis for home carers, but also provides a general insight into experiences with formal and informal care and support. A positive development is that more carers indicate receiving sufficient understanding of their situation from their immediate environment (80%) compared to 2018 (76%). More carers also indicate receiving unsolicited help from their immediate environment (35%) compared to 2018 (29%).
