InLife: care for caregivers
To support caregivers of people with dementia, researchers at the Alzheimer's Centre Limburg, Maastricht University, and Maastricht UMC+ developed an online tool called InLife.
InLife consists of a website and an app with dozens of features. Caregivers can use the special care circles feature to ask for help and support from people in their immediate environment. The inner care circle consists of the dementia patient's immediate family; the middle circle consists of friends, acquaintances, and neighbours; and the outer circle consists of professionals, such as the case manager. The caregiver can post a specific care need and the people in the various care circles (close and far away) can sign up to help. This is an accessible way to organise help with the caregiving process and helps to better distribute tasks and relieve the burden on the direct caregiver. In short: it's care for caregivers.
Platform
InLife also serves as a platform for information and positive social interaction. There is a timeline that can be used to post about everyday events in the life of the patient, as well as personal messages and photographs (both old and new). There is also an agenda, which can be used to plan and announce activities and to post support requests. The tool also includes a care journal with all relevant information about the patient’s care and a compass for general information about dementia. These features aim to promote more interaction between the people involved and create a more positive, involved, and committed atmosphere.
Caregivers wanted
To test the website and the app, the researchers are currently looking for caregivers interested in trying out and assessing InLife. The aim of this assessment is to answer questions such as: Is the tool effective? Does it generate more social support? Does it improve quality of life? All caregivers for a family member or a relative with dementia are welcome to register via the website: www.myinlife.nl.
Background
Caregivers of people with dementia can easily become overwhelmed. They often have a job and a family alongside their role as caregiver. As many as eighty percent of caregivers feel overwhelmed and depressed, which can make it difficult to ask for help. With this in mind, InLife was developed as an important online tool to improve social support.
This pressrelease has been issued by the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+).
More information: www.mumc.nl/en.
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