For elderly living in the community, alcohol misuse is not uncommon. Experience of professionals of social care services to face alcoholism misuse has rarely been assessed. The work of these professionals is to allow aged people to stay at home in spite of impaired physical and/or mental age-related abilities.
We studied the experienced difficulties and feelings of professional caregivers for ten aged subjects with alcohol misuse compared to ten aged subjects without, to identify their needs in terms of training for the home care service associations.
The participants took part in an interview and completed a research questionnaire concerning their reactions to alcohol misuse in elderly subjects.
No significant difference was found between the responses from the two groups. All participants felt powerless in front of the denial of the alcohol misuse by the patients and experienced difficulties with the behavior of some family members. They reported that they would be comforted by the opportunity to share their experiences with colleagues and people in charge. They hoped to meet specialized teams in the field of addictions to develop skills for supporting elderly people with regard of alcohol misuse.
Presently, the services in charge of the aged people should review the interventions and training of their employees, especially of those caring for subjects with alcohol misuse, to improve the quality of their actions in an evolving environment.
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