Community care for people with dementia: A handbook for policymakers

The report “Community care for people with dementia: A handbook for policymakers” brings together the findings from a study commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and carried out by a team of researchers in the European Centre’s Health and Care Unit. Filling an important gap in the discourse on how care for people with dementia living at home should best be organised, the study proposes a framework for conceptualising community care which takes into account social, economic, as well as ethical and legal dimensions. The framework underscores the shifting needs of the person with dementia and of informal carers over the trajectory of the disease, and the changing roles of different stakeholders as a result. The authors identify a number of key aspects of community care that may lead to inadequate or inappropriate care if not given due consideration by policymakers and service developers. The report concludes with recommendations for policymaking at the macro-level and for the organisation of care in the community at the meso- and micro-levels.