Living Alone with Dementia

Abstract

This report describes a population of individuals with dementia living alone in the community. Data were collected as part of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA). We found that one third of the subjects in the CSHA sample with a dementia residing in the community lived alone. Whether their identified informal caregiver had thought about institutionalization was an important factor in actual short-term (2-year) institutionalization and appeared to be influenced by living arrangements. Caregivers of those living alone provided less hands-on assistance, experienced less burden, and were less likely to be depressed than those living with the demented person, but were more likely to have considered institutionalization. Presumably, this was driven by concerns about safety and support. How to support the growing numbers of individuals with dementia living alone in the community will be a significant challenge.