ProFamilies-dementia, a program designed to support families caring for a person with dementia, included a component of meaningful occupation (MO) provided by volunteers. This study aimed to explore the volunteers' motivations and fears and evaluate the benefits of their involvement. Meaningful occupation involved six volunteers and three people with dementia and their families. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews. Main findings suggest that volunteers were motivated by altruistic values while fearful of inadequate performance; they perceived an increased sense of competence, but reported some disappointment about the limited professional growth; and families reported that they wanted greater opportunities for interaction with the volunteer.

Dementia is a challenging chronic illness that affects the patients and their families. Families often perform a full-time, specialised role, which requires expert knowledge and skills. This paper describes the evaluation of proFamilies-dementia (a programme developed to support families that care for a relative with dementia) using an innovative participatory methodology: photovoice, a qualitative method of research that uses photography and voice to access people’s experiences. The programme was evaluated in order to identify the positive and negative impacts of the intervention on individuals and families; the advantages and disadvantages of photovoice as a participatory tool were also captured. The sample consisted of six people from five families. Participants identified only positive impacts of the programme, including better emotional management, normalisation of feelings and increased focus on self-care. Photovoice facilitated access to the process of change initiated by proFamilies-dementia, described by a process of going beyond illness, negativity and loneliness.

Animal hoarding has been portrayed as a manifestation of hoarding behaviour that is escalating worldwide. Professionals trying to support or help animal hoarders face several challenges due to the ...

Loneliness is a subjective experience escalating worldwide and affecting older adults. Digital solutions can play a major role in addressing loneliness, although its use has been facing resistance due to scarce involvement of older adults in its design. MOAI LABS is an ongoing European project that adopts a co-design process to develop digital solutions to address loneliness in older adults. This study reports the experience of loneliness shared by a group of eight community-dwelling older Portuguese adults (aged 64 to 86 years old), who are “experts by experience” (who feel alone). Findings were obtained from two co-creation sessions that were audio-recorded, and transcribed. The data analysis was performed involving the research team and the “experts by experience.” Three themes emerged: 1) loneliness as a detrimental “state of the soul”; 2) loneliness reinforced by features of the aging process; and 3) loneliness builds more loneliness. MOAI LABS co-design process of digital solutions will embrace these experiences and involve frontline gerontological social workers who have experience with older adults’ loneliness.

In this paper we describe the development and pilot implementation, in a primary care context, of a programme for helping families adapt to living with a person with dementia (proFamilies-dementia). This programme aims to promote the healthy adaptation of the family to the presence of an elderly member with dementia living in their homes. It comprises three components: a psycho-educational, multi-family discussion group for the families; cognitive stimulation for the elderly person with dementia; and a mediation service to support the families after participation in the first two components. proFamilies-dementia was implemented with one group involving five families. The main benefits mentioned by families include: an opportunity to share experiences with others who are living through similar circumstances; the development of an improved sense of competency; and the improvement of family relationships. proFamilies-dementia reveals potential for promoting the provision of integrated support from health and social services, which usually function as independent and parallel support structures.