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Dementia Care in Malta: Policy, Experiences and Narratives

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Dementia Care

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Abstract

This chapter embeds global trends in dementia policy and care in a unique national context, that of Malta, which is a European Union Member State. In 2015, the Maltese government launched the National Dementia Strategy so that Malta became the 21st country to launch a plan aimed at enhancing the quality of life of persons with dementia and family carers. The government followed this strategy by implementing a range of policy initiatives—most importantly, a Dementia Intervention Team. The most recent national statistics on caregivers of persons with dementia in Malta reported that the main carer for persons with dementia living in the community was the spouse, followed by the daughter. Informal caregiving with persons with dementia is such an onerous experience that many caregivers require assistance with a range of care work activities and are in receipt of a range of public service. The planning and writing of this chapter also aimed at exploring the subjective experience of dementia. A case study found that persons with dementia tend to experience “narrative dispossession” and spent most of their daily living balancing their private (the “self”) and public worlds (how others view them). This chapter advocates a life course approach to dementia, rather than treating it as an end-of-life phenomenon, while also calling for a relational approach to dementia policy that addresses the needs of all those involved in supporting people with dementia, whether in an unpaid or paid capacity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Marvin Formosa

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  1. Marvin Formosa
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Correspondence to Marvin Formosa .

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  1. Sociologist, Gerontologist and Health Social Scientist, Independent Freelance International/National Consultant and Writer, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Mala Kapur Shankardass

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Formosa, M. (2021). Dementia Care in Malta: Policy, Experiences and Narratives. In: Shankardass, M.K. (eds) Dementia Care. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3864-0_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3864-0_13

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