Eurocarers
European association working for carers
Alzheimer Blog
Summary
The Alzheimer Blog was set-up by the German Alzheimer Society Charity in 2008, as an additional service with a web site and counselling phone number for carers of older people affected by Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia.
The main aim of the initiative is to give help and support for people with dementia and their family, friends and neighbours. It offers carers a chance to meet and to share caring related difficulties. The blog contains narratives of people suffering from dementia, as well as the experiences of their family members and other relatives.
The service is funded by private donors and users through free donations, public funders only for individual projects and users themselves.
It reaches about 1300 people per month. The service requires easily used devices, as it works through a personal computer and an Internet connection. In addition, it involves professionals belonging to the public health care and social services systems and the private care sector.
It positively impacts on carers’ quality of life, because it provides relief and support. It impacts on the labour market, because it helps carers to reconcile work and care and impacts on the National Health System (NHS), because it indirectly avoids hospitalisations.
Description
refers to the target users, kind of service provided, ICTs typologies and devices used
The service offers a virtual space for Carers of old people affected by Alzheimer disease where they can share their experiences and expertise and find psychological support.
Alzheimer BLOG was set-up by the German Alzheimer Society and financed by private donors and users, in order to provide support and help for people with dementia and their carers.
Care Recipients
Informal carers
Paid assistants
Formal carers
Not available
Independent Living
Information and learning for carers
Personal Support and Social Integration for carer
Care coordination
The initiative provides services for carers to learn, to get support and to obtain social integration.
A personal computer and an Internet connection.
Operational Information
refers to the type of funding, budget, sustainability and organisations involved
Not available
- Private out of pocket: users pay for the service.
- Non-profit funding: charities, volunteers organisations, NGO.
Not applicable
The initiative does not require much funding, because it is an additional service within the initiatives provided by German Alzheimer Society. Therefore, it could be sustained with low costs.
None
Authorities
Private Care Sector
Health and Social Care Systems
Third Sector
Private Companies
Not available
Informal Carers
Health Professionals
Social Care Professionals
Privately-Hired Care Assistants (inc. Migrant Care Workers)
Volunteers
The initiative aims at improving the social participation of formal and informal carers, but has been implemented as an addition to existing services, such as telephone counselling. The Social Service Professionals involved are also experts in giving psychological support
Volunteers are only involved as blog-writers
Not available
The initiative is promoted through the web site of the German Alzheimer Society.
Evaluation
refers to the impact of the service on end-users, care organisations and authorities
The service impacts on the quality of life of informal and formal carers, because it provides a virtual place for meeting, sharing feelings and finding peer support. Care recipients indirectly benefit from it as well (Schmidt. et al., 2011).
The service impacts on companies and the labour market, as it helps informal carers to reconcile work and caring tasks and gives them peace of mind (Schmidt et al., 2011).
Public Authorities and the NHS benefit from this service, because it prevents informal and formal carers from burning out and developing depression. Moreover, by improving the quality of care, the service saves the cost of hospitalisation (Schmidt et al., 2011).
Strengths
- The service has low costs.
- The initiative is a good tool for avoiding carers' social isolation.
Weaknesses
- It is not simple to find a sufficient number of writers.
- The website has no information in English, which makes it particularly difficult for migrant care workers to use.
Opportunities
- The service could collect data of people using the forum in order to identify different carers' profiles and the strategies they use to manage their relatives' disability, thus building a database potentially useful for future research projects.
Threats/Challenges
- The Alzheimer blog has to face the challenge of reaching more and more users willing to write on the blog. Particularly, there are hardly any dementia sufferers who write on the blog, which is probably due to their impaired cognition. (The main contributors are their next of kin and carers.) Finding additional users is more difficult for this blog than for others dedicated to different illnesses.
The initiative only has a national presence. It could be spread to other countries as it does not have high costs. Although in order to reach this objective, the web site needs to be translated into other languages or at least into English.
More Information
includes contacts, publications and accompanying documents
References:
Schmidt A., Chiatti C., Fry G., Hanson E., Magnusson L,. Socci M, Stückler A., Széman Z., Barbabella F., Hoffmann F. & Lamura G. (2011), Analysis and Mapping of 52 ICT based Initiatives for Caregivers,
http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eInclusion/carers.html
Publications:
Mollenkopf H., Kloé U., Olbermann E., Klumpp G. (2010) The Potential of ICT in supporting Domiciliary Care in Germany. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Interview (phone) with Susanna Saxl (internet appointee of Alzheimer BLOG).
Sources:
Contacts
Deutsche Alzheimer Gesellschaft e.V.
Selbsthilfe Demenz
Friedrichstraße 236
10969 Berlin
Telephone: 0049 030 / 259 37 95-0
Fax: 0049 030 / 259 37 95-29
Mail: info@deutsche-alzheimer.de
Business Manger
Frau Sabine Jansen
ICT Responsible:
Susanna Saxl