A new study gives more insights into how healthcare professionals view living arrangements when they are caring for people with cognitive impairment. On the whole, more interventions are necessarily to support older adults living alone who have cognitive impairment.
Interventions will become more vital as time goes by because cognitive impairment can’t be reversed. It’s not uncommon for someone living alone to be childless or divorced (and therefore lack family support), and older adults may live longer and need long-term care, the authors said.
Researchers collected information from 76 healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, social workers and home care aides) that shared details on the differences in people who have cognitive impairment and live alone compared to those who live with others. The interviews were conducted between early 2021 and mid-2022, and the workers helped people with cognitive impairment who lived in Michigan, California and Texas. The report was published Friday in JAMA Network Open.
The healthcare professionals had more challenges with those who lived alone. Policies that limited access to home care, healthcare overall and isolation were a few factors that added to their challenges. Not having a complete medical history, absence of an advocate and difficulty of interventions were some other struggles. Some of the patients miss care because they simply can’t get to office visits.
On the flip side, people with cognitive impairment who didn’t live alone were more likely to be with a caregiver during visits, and that caregiver helped navigate the situation. If someone lived alone with cognitive impairment, they were less likely to have a caregiver along for visits.
“Findings suggest that living alone is a social determinant of health among patients with cognitive impairment owing to substantial barriers in access to services,” the authors wrote. “Results raised considerable concerns about safety because the US healthcare system is not well equipped to address the unique needs of older adults living alone with cognitive impairment.”
About 4.3 million older adults over the age of 55 have cognitive impairment and live alone. Most are females. About 75% of older adults with cognitive impairment do not live alone. Older adults who live alone and have cognitive impairment typically don’t have much access to long-term services because they may not have support from family, according to the authors.
