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People with Alzheimer's disease and their spouse-caregivers: differences in perceptions of sexual satisfaction?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2017

Briony Dow  and
Sue Malta
Briony Dow*
Affiliation:
National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
Sue Malta
Affiliation:
National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
*
Email: b.dow@nari.unimelb.edu.au
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Extract

Older informal caregivers aged 65+ years account for 34% of all carers in the USA (Family Caregivers Alliance, 2016), 22% in England and Wales (Carers UK, 2015), and 24% in Australia (Deloitte Access Economics, 2015). For many older carers, this means looking after their spouse or intimate partner who in many cases has dementia (Donnellan et al., 2015). As the incidence of dementia increases, the need to understand the impact of caring on these intimate relationships becomes more vital, so the experiences of spousal caregivers can be anticipated, validated, and supported. It is also important to understand the gender differences in these care relationships, so that education and services can be tailored to meet the different needs of men and women caregivers. Sexual activity in later life is associated with both mental and physical health (Ganong and Larson, 2011; Anderson, 2013), and is therefore, important to maintain, perhaps even in the context of caring for someone with dementia.

Type
Commentary paper of the month
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , February 2017 , pp. 181 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2017 

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