| 英文摘要 |
As the dementia population grows, medical and care costs associated with dementia increases every year. Building a dementia-friendly community is considered to have the effect that can delay the placement of persons with dementia into long-term care facilities, reducing the cost of care and improving quality of life patients and their caregivers. In this paper, the guidance of dementia-friendly community by UK Alzheimers Association was used as a framework for data collection and analysis to conduct a community assessment at “Kanding Subzone” in Zhongzheng District, Taipei City. Assessment methods include: windshield observation, interview the persons with dementia and their primary caregivers as well as community opinion leaders, and survey by a questionnarie. The results indicated that most communities adopted the ""top-down"" strategies to follow the existing policy and programs and spontaneously developed bottom-up strategies were lacking. Gaps still exist when compared to the indicators of a dementia-friendly community. It is recommended that the future efforts to achieve a dementia-friendly community should include: (1) strengthening advocacy for dementia, increasing awareness of dementia, and creating a sense of urgency and change atmosphere; (2) actively uncovering persons with early dementia, encouraging those persons with dementia and caregivers involved in policy formulation; (3) obtaining consensus among among service departments and community stakeholders to develop a dementia-friendly community and to establish a locally acceptable dementia care model |
