The evaluation of long‐term care for the dementing elderly: A comparative study of hospital and collective non‐medical care in France

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Abstract
Despite growing interest in the nature and mechanisms of senile dementia, there has been surprisingly little research on long‐term care provision for persons with irreversible cognitive decline. The present study describes a model for the evaluation of long‐term care facilities for the dementing elderly and its application in France to a comparative study of traditional long‐stay hospitals and non‐medical communal care. Results suggest that persons in communal care are less dependent, report less depressive symptomatology, are more mobile, engage in verbal communication more frequently and have fewer language difficulties than persons in hospital care, although no differences are found between the two groups in terms of dementia severity. Both family and professional caregivers were found to be more satisfied with communal care. A follow‐up study suggests that some of these differences might, however, be due to differences in the populations at admission. The results are discussed in terms of appropriate care allocation for persons with senile dementia.