Understanding and Balancing Generalist-Specialist Approaches in Dementia Research and Care Practice, Qualitative Research with 44 Dementia Professors in The Netherlands

Dementia is one of the leading causes of death and disability among citizens and a societal challenge because of aging worldwide. As dementia has physical, psychological, social, material, and economic impacts, both research and care practice require many disciplines to develop and implement diagnostics, medical and psychosocial interventions, and support, crossing all domains of housing, public services, care, and cure. Notwithstanding large research efforts, much knowledge about mechanisms, interventions, and needs’ based care pathways is still lacking. To cope with these challenges in resea... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Robbert Huijsman
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 20, Iss 3835, p 3835 (2023)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: dementia / generalist / specialist / academic professors / qualitative research / Medicine / R
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27190328
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053835

Dementia is one of the leading causes of death and disability among citizens and a societal challenge because of aging worldwide. As dementia has physical, psychological, social, material, and economic impacts, both research and care practice require many disciplines to develop and implement diagnostics, medical and psychosocial interventions, and support, crossing all domains of housing, public services, care, and cure. Notwithstanding large research efforts, much knowledge about mechanisms, interventions, and needs’ based care pathways is still lacking. To cope with these challenges in research and practice, this paper is the first to question how generalist and specialist orientations can be unfolded. In the Netherlands, all dementia professors (N = 44) at eight Dutch academic centers have been interviewed. Qualitative analyses revealed three subgroups of dementia professors, one with a generalist orientation, one adhering to specialist approaches, and a third group that pleas for mixed orientations, with some differences between research and care practice. Each group has arguments for its generalist/specialist vision, but the synthesis suggests a paradigm of personalized and integrated dementia care, aimed at the individual in his own living environment. Sustainable strategies to cope with dementia require (inter)national programs and strong collaboration to build multi- and interdisciplinarity within and between research and practice.