Background to the Research

• Interest in various aspects of dementia is growing and yet there is a shortage of published research in this area.
• The research contained in this article seeks to address this by examining the prevalence of people with dementia in a rural area of NI and sets it within the context of community care policy.
  

Research Approach

• The data represents a follow up to a study carried out in 1991 into the prevalence of dementia in a rural county of NI.
• In the current study, a total of 435 people with dementia were identified using a pro forma research method and the stage of dementia was ascertained using the GDS.
  

Main Findings

• One third of the sample were male (143) and 292 were female (67.2%).
• The number of people identified with dementia has more than doubled since 1991. There are now 12% more people with dementia living in the community and an increase of 16% residing in the 9 nursing homes in the area. There has been a reduction from 19% (1991) to 1% (2001) in the number of people in 2 hospitals.
• Fifty-two per cent of the people with dementia from the main county town were living in a nursing or residential home; in the more rural western area only 36% of people with dementia were living in nursing or residential homes.
• Use of the GDS by place of residence showed that people in hospital or nursing home have the highest score, although 72 people (21%) living in the community have a disease score of 5.0 or above. People living alone have a similar disease score to those living in the sheltered accommodation or with others.
• Possible explanations for the fact that more than twice as many people were identified in 2001 compared with the study in 1991, include the numerical increase in people aged 65 years and over, greater awareness of dementia by professionals and the community, and a difference in the methodology used in the 2001 survey.
• Although the data show that the majority of the sample remain in the community, it also mirrors the trend for people with higher care needs to move into nursing or residential care.
• The findings demonstrate that whilst changes in community care policy have resulted in fewer people with dementia resident in hospital, reciprocal opportunities for non-institutional living were often limited.