AFAL. ASOCIACI�N NACIONAL DEL ALZHEIMER

This service provided by the Association, is directed toward the carers and relatives of Alzheimer�s sufferers and aims to prevent and treat unhealthy emotional states of mind. By means of this Program, we intend to favour the carers� and relatives acceptance of the illness, encourage a proper confrontation of the situation, re-orientate responses, reduce stress, offer care guidelines and help them rediscover a healthy lifestyle.

This psychological intervention aims primarily at achieving the following objectives:

1. To offer personal support in order for the carer to channel and express his/her feelings.
2. To favour the process of adaptation to the illness.
3. To manage conflicts and modify counter-productive conducts.
4. To prevent harmful psychological alterations by proposing alternative responses that are compatible with the sufferer�s care.

Who can benefit from this program?

Any associate member, who is negatively affected by taking care of or cohabiting with an Alzheimer�s sufferer, can benefit from this program.

Individuals who make use of this program tend to be the spouses or children of Alzheimer�s sufferers. The reasons to solicit and be assigned psychological support, may originate in the multiple difficulties presented by the disease throughout its evolutionary process: the impact of the diagnosis, cohabitation with the sufferer, the burden of the diverse caring chores, the assumption of new responsibilities, the feeling of loss, the management of psychological and behavioural symptoms of the sufferer, the loss of encouragement, social isolation, loneliness, mourning, etc.

How can one join the Program?

Inclusion in the Program may be offered by our professionals or may be requested by users. Our Social Workers will detect those cases that could benefit from psychological assistance, bearing in mind their urgency. Furthermore, any associate member can request this service, and his/her request will be evaluated and decided upon by our team of psychologists in charge of the program, and may later be included in a short waiting list.

How does it work?

Psychological therapy sessions take place once a week for the duration of one hour. We try to make the treatment as short as possible. After therapy terminates, the development of each patient is observed. This service is not free. Its cost (in the form of a donation) is of 12� per session.

For more information, please contact Eva Lopez or Luis Redondo by writing to, [email protected]

�What are its objectives?  

To favour the extroversion of personal conflicts and to balance psychological decompensations derived from constant care to relatives suffering from Alzheimer�s.

For more information, please contact Eva L�pez or Luis Redondo at [email protected]

When Alzheimer�s disease affects one�s spouse, as the illness gradually progresses, a change in roles takes place: the role of the husband or wife is substituted by that of the carer. Our Social Work Department has detected the need to provide assistance and support through group intervention to these �spouse carers� who experience deficiencies at emotional and social levels due to the constant care that their spouses require. We work especially with the prevention of responsibility overload and social alienation of the carer.

Our basic task is to identify the knowledge needs of the different members of the group and to help them develop aptitudes for the day-to-day care of their spouses and the appropriate responses to their requests. Furthermore, we wish to create a space where carers and professionals can exchange thoughts and experiences in order to promote a correct understanding of the disease as well as to help carers recognise their attitudes and limitations when confronted with the disease.

OBJECTIVES

• To improve the quality of living of spouse carers of Alzheimer�s sufferers
• To develop and strengthen social relationships
• To improve spouse carers� self-esteem and consequently their state of mind
• To encourage leisure
• To fight loneliness
• To deal with conflictive emotions provoked by caring
• To identify the stage of the disease the sufferer is in and to learn about its characteristics

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS SERVICE?

This service is directed toward the spouses of Alzheimer�s sufferers who need to receive information regarding continuous care in order to avoid undesirable situations; as well as those willing to adapt their lifestyle to the situation, with the least possible emotional and social repercussions.

HOW DOES ONE JOIN THE PROGRAM?

Inclusion in the program is decided depending on the professional evaluation of our technical team. The program can be both requested by users and recommended to users directly by our professionals. Our social workers may detect cases in need of social assistance and group psychological support, during an initial interview and its subsequent interdisciplinary evaluation.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Group sessions are carried out on Thursdays from 11:30 to 13:00. These sessions are conducted by one of our professionals, either a social worker or a psychologist. The program of the sessions will be designed according to the profiles and characteristics of the group, in order to cover the needs of all its members. The goal of these sessions is to preserve the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of the spouse carers. At the same time, we encourage them to see the positive aspects of caring and we do our best to help them live a more fulfilling life in the company of their dearest relatives. For this reason, we re-orientate the carers� daily practices and modify negative aspects that can be subjected to change; in order to ensure that during the caring process, the burdens do not surpass certain limits. In this way, we attempt to keep the spouse carers from becoming vulnerable and suffering psychological or other health problems.