The Attitude towards Alzheimer's - Essay Example

Although research on care-giving disproportionally deals with topics such as costs of care, service utilization, and negative psychosocial outcomes etc, the influence of the attitude towards Alzheimer's on the care-giving to the patients has not attained significant attention in researches. Researches on the attitude of the family members towards Alzheimer's have great relevance as it can aid better care offered to the individuals with Alzheimer's by the people immediately close to them. As it is families who deal with life, it is important for families to deal with diseases, especially a disease like Alzheimer's.

"Given that Alzheimer's is a disruptive yet often subtle disease, infinitely variable, it tends to bring about family crisis, even in the best organized and healthiest of families. This is because the beginnings of the disease involve gradual loss of ability to function well in life, rather than specific symptoms needing specific treatment. It is a disease of behaviors, and families have to make decisions about their own behaviors in response to the illness. In families with unhealthy interaction patterns, Alzheimer's disease becomes a new battleground.

" (Gray-Davidson, 1999, p. 47). Therefore, the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has an important impact on the care offered to individuals with Alzheimer's disease and a research on the different attitudes can contribute to a better health-care offered to patients with Alzheimer's. Scope The attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has been found one of the most essential factors influencing the type of care offered to individuals with Alzheimer's. A reflective analysis of the various common attitudes towards Alzheimer's and their influences on the health-care can determine the various effective ways to treat the patients and help them in coping with the particular situation of the life.

Therefore, the scope of research concerning attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's is vast and this specific study focuses on determining the essential elements in the different attitudes towards Alzheimer's. Hypothesis One of the basic factors determining the care given to individuals with Alzheimer's is the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's as family is the essential unit of the society to deal with the issues confronting individuals with Alzheimer's. Therefore, the underlying hypothesis of this study is that the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has a major influence on how the patient is treated and looked after in the family background and it is essential to develop a positive attitude towards Alzheimer's in order to assist the patient effectively.

Literature Review Various types of attitudes by different section of the society towards Alzheimer's have a major influence on the diagnosis, health-care, and treatment of the disease. For example, a physician's positive attitude towards Alzheimer's has been found one of the most essential factors in early diagnosis of the disease and it can affect how the patient is offered health-care in the course of the disease. "In their ongoing study, Paterson and colleagues found that a doctor's positive attitude about the identification and treatment of dementia is the most