title: Social care and support needs of community-dwelling people with dementia and concurrent visual impairment.
abstract: This study explored the social care and support needs of people with dementia and visual impairment, and the barriers and facilitators for meeting these needs.
  
  
  
  Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted: 21 joint and 5 individual interviews with the person with dementia and visual impairment (n=4) or their family/paid carer (n=1). Interviews were analysed thematically.
  
  
  
  Three themes are presented. (1) Social care needs: having dementia can reduce an individual's ability to cope with their visual impairment, and lead to increased dependency and reduced daily stimulation. (2) Barriers to using technology to meet social care needs: difficulties were reported with learning to use unfamiliar technology and the cost of visual impairment aids, and for some, the presence of dementia made visual impairment aids unusable and vice versa. (3) Familiarity as a facilitator for meeting social care needs: living at home or taking furnishings and ornaments into a new home facilitated independence, and continuity of paid carers/volunteers facilitated the caring relationship between the individual and staff/volunteer.
  
  
  
  Care workers will better serve older people if they are aware of the social care and support needs that arise from having both dementia and visual impairment.
authors.affiliation: a Psychology Department, Faculty of Science and Technology , Bournemouth University , Poole , UK.|b Bournemouth University Dementia Institute, Bournemouth University , Poole , UK.
authors.forename: Samuel Robert
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1963-0814
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Nyman
authors.affiliation: b Bournemouth University Dementia Institute, Bournemouth University , Poole , UK.
authors.forename: Anthea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Innes
authors.affiliation: b Bournemouth University Dementia Institute, Bournemouth University , Poole , UK.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4492-3726
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heward
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: General: dementia and cognitive disorders; caregiving and interventions: caregiving; comorbidity; social support: psychosocial and cultural aspects; vision disorders