07.02.01.08. About the assessment and management of behavioural and psychological symptoms, what kind of interventions are available to people with dementia or their informal carers? | Brazil
07.02.01.08. About the assessment and management of behavioural and psychological symptoms, what kind of interventions are available to people with dementia or their informal carers? | Brazil
08 Apr 2022
There are no mainstream dementia-specific non-pharmacological interventions for carers or people living with dementia through the public sector. Private services are available, such as cognitive stimulation therapy, respite care, occupational therapy, arts therapy, etc. There are psychosocial activities through the primary health sector and social care sector for older people in general, such as older people’s centres, older people’s gyms, arts and craft groups, etc. Pharmacological treatment exist and are prescribed through GPs or specialists through a special pharmaceutical scheme called ‘high cost’ (or ‘alto custo’, in Portuguese). These are free of charge for service users; however, the process involved with getting this medicine monthly are often complicated and demands image tests (tomography, MRI), blood tests, neuropsychiatric assessment, and clinical assessment. It is common for people to take over one year to be able to get the pharmacological treatment through SUS due to the need to wait for all these documents, which also need to be regularly updated.