Managing Dementia with no Pills: Role of Caregivers

Family caregivers of people with dementia, often called the second doctors, are critical to the quality of life of the care recipients. The support of the caregivers is intrinsic to good dementia care; therefore their role needs to be acknowledged in maintaining individuals with dementia in community.Good and appropriate communication skills, helping them maintain independence and autonomy, providing safe environment, simplification of tasks, structuring of daily routine, and provision of adequate nutrition, engaging them in physical and cognitive exercises are some of the simple but valuable things which caregivers can do for dementia patients. At the same time they experience high rates of burden and psychological morbidity as well as social isolation, physical ill-health, and financial hardship which needs to identified and managed timely.