Receipt of help by people with cognitive impairment: results from the English longitudinal study of ageing

Read, Sanna ORCID: 0000-0002-5532-8746, Hu, Bo ORCID: 0000-0002-5256-505X, Dixon, Josie ORCID: 0000-0003-4772-6450, Brimblecombe, Nicola ORCID: 0000-0002-6147-5726, Wittenberg, Raphael ORCID: 0000-0003-3096-2721, Brayne, Carol and Banerjee, Sube (2023) Receipt of help by people with cognitive impairment: results from the English longitudinal study of ageing. Aging and Mental Health, 27 (2). 272 - 280. ISSN 1360-7863

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Abstract

Objectives: We investigated whether people with dementia or low memory/orientation reported more help misaligned with needs–more unmet need and/or more unrequired help–than other people with similar levels of functional limitation, and examined associations with quality of life. Methods: From pooled English Longitudinal Study of Ageing data from waves 6, 7, and 8, we identified community-dwelling people aged 50+ with: dementia (n= 405); low memory/orientation but no dementia (n= 4520); and intact memory/orientation (n= 10,264). Unmet need (not receiving help for the functional limitation) and unrequired help (receipt of help without the respective functional limitation) were used as outcomes in two-part regressions. Quality of life (CASP-19) was used as a continuous outcome in a linear regression. Functional limitation and its interaction with cognitive status and socio-demographic factors were included in the models. Results: Those with dementia or low memory/orientation but few functional limitations reported more unmet needs and unrequired help than their counterparts with intact memory/orientation. At high levels of limitations, the needs of those with dementia or lower memory/orientation were met more often and the receipt of unrequired help was similar compared to those with intact memory/orientation. Unmet need and unrequired help were associated with poorer quality of life. Conclusions: Unmet need and unrequired help were particular challenges for those with poorer cognition and potentially at early stages of dementia; they were associated with lower quality of life. Our results highlight the importance of good-quality timely diagnosis, identification of needs, and person-centred assessment to help improve quality of life.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/camh20
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Care Policy and Evaluation Centre
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	17 Dec 2021 10:12
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2025 22:34
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/112971

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