A program of therapy and coping strategies for people who care for family members with dementia
A program of therapy and coping strategies for people who care for family members with dementia successfully improves the carers' mental health for at least a six-year follow-up.
Carers who took part in the program were five times less likely to have clinically significant depression than carers who were not offered the therapy. The intervention has also been shown to be cost-effective.
Six years after receiving the therapy, the carers who were in the START program had significantly fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the researchers say the therapy program appeared to be both preventative and improve existing mental ill-health.
In Ontario, there is currently a gap in mental health promotion and awareness programming for older adults – which includes programming around dementia, as well as other topics such as depression, and anxiety .
To address this gap, the PSSP team at CAMH is currently developing a structured curriculum “Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing in Later Life: A Workshop Series” to close the gap and ensure older adults have access to information about mental health, mental illness, addictions, and health seeking behaviours.
Check out the announcement about this program from the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions!
https://news.ontario.ca/oss/en...l&utm_campaign=p
A very important topic! I saw first hand how the stresses of being a caregiver negatively impacted my father. It can very easily turn into a lose-lose situation if there is no care for the caregiver. Glad to see there are supports that exist! Looking forward to the new CAMH workshop series.