Pathways to dementia diagnosis among South Asian Canadians.

Urban centers are increasingly ethnically diverse. However, some visible minorities are less likely than their majority counterparts to seek and receive services and treatment for dementia. This study explored experiences of South Asian Canadians, Canada's largest visible minority group, prior to dementia diagnosis.

Pathways to diagnosis: exploring the experiences of problem recognition and obtaining a dementia diagnosis among Anglo-Canadians.

Increasing evidence suggests that early diagnosis and management of dementia-related symptoms may improve the quality of life for patients and their families. However, individuals may wait from 1-3 years from the onset of symptoms before receiving a diagnosis. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of problem recognition, and the process of obtaining a diagnosis among individuals with early-stage dementia and their primary carers.

Family physicians and dementia in Canada: Part 2. Understanding the challenges of dementia care.

Objective: To explore the challenges Canadian family physicians face in providing dementia care.

Design: Qualitative study using focus groups.

Setting: Academic family practice clinics in Calgary, Alta, Ottawa, Ont, and Toronto, Ont.

Family physicians and dementia in Canada: Part 1. Clinical practice guidelines: awareness, attitudes, and opinions.

Objective: To assess Canadian family physicians' awareness of, attitudes toward, and use of the 1999 Canadian Consensus Conference on Dementia (CCCD) clinical practice guidelines (CPGs); to explore the barriers and enablers to implementing dementia CPGs in clinical practice; and to identify more effective strategies for future dementia guideline development and dissemination.

Design: Qualitative study using focus groups.

Setting: Academic family practice clinics in Calgary, Alta, Ottawa, Ont, and Toronto, Ont.

Consumer fraud and the elderly: a review of Canadian challenges and initiatives.

Financial abuse is the most common type of elder abuse. Consumer fraud, a form of financial abuse perpetrated by criminals who do not know the victim, is not well studied. Seniors represent a disproportionate percentage of the victims of consumer fraud.

To tell or not to tell? Professional and lay perspectives on the disclosure of personal health information in community-based dementia care.

Developments in information technology and the ongoing restructuring of health services to increase provision in community settings militate in favour of a streamlining of communications and the exchange of information about patients among health and social care providers. Yet the principles of confidentiality and privacy appear to inhibit this process. In order to explore the practical, ethical, and legal imperatives attendant upon personal health information exchange, we conducted a series of interviews with professional care providers, persons with early-stage dementia, and their family caregivers.

Psychiatric issues in retrospective challenges of testamentary capacity.

Background: Challenges to Wills on the basis of lack of testamentary capacity are likely to increase due to a combination of economic factors, high prevalence of mental disorders in old age and the complexity of many modern families. Geriatric psychiatrists and other experts will be asked to provide expert assessment of the testamentary capacity of individuals whose Wills are being challenged retrospectively. The traditional criteria described in the Banks vs Goodfellow case have been held as the standard for testamentary capacity.

Surrogate decision making: special issues in geriatric psychiatry.

Surrogate decision-makers, usually family and friends, are often called on to assist seniors who are incapable of making certain decisions. The literature to date has focused primarily on decisions regarding medical treatment. Less has been written about issues faced by surrogates when making other types of decisions that often arise in the practice of geriatric psychiatry.

Positive aspects of caregiving: rounding out the caregiver experience.

Objectives: To identify positive aspects of caregiving and examine how they are associated with caregiver outcomes.

Method: This study used a national sample of caregivers derived from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (part 2). Two hundred and eighty-nine caregivers caring for seniors living in the community were questioned about their experience of caregiving.

Quality of life and Economic Aspects of Community Support Programs for Caregivers of Dementia Patients.

This economic analysis of community programs for caregivers of dementia patients first reviews the clinical data on caregiver stress and the effectiveness of a variety of intervention programs. The authors then discuss issues relevant to the measurement of the true costs of specific community support programs and their impact on the quality of life of caregivers. Using cost data derived from other published studies, the authors conducted a cost-utility analysis using incremental costs per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained.