Opis

Rapid economic and social development in the last century and improved living conditions have prolonged the lives of people worldwide, most notably in the developed world. People remain socially, psychologically and physically active up to a very old age, for which individuals and society take care of in different ways. Nevertheless, the age brings many physical, psychological, social, and other changes. In old age, some chronic non-communicable illnesses, especially cardiovascular diseases, muscle and metabolic diseases, become more common. They reduce the quality of life for the patients and their relatives, and represent an economic burden for the society. However, with the students of Master's study programme of Social gerontology (AMEU – ECM) we did not want to focus on the mentioned illnesses. Instead, we, at the SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY AS A FIELD OF RESEARCH course, focused on various aspects of an illness, which, due to its specificity, presents an increasing problem, from the health, social, as well as economic point of view, and that is dementia. The term dementia combines a group of illnesses, characterised by cognitive changes of the patient because of the central nervous system disorder. The World Health Organisation describes dementia as a chronic progressive syndrome, characterised by a decline in functional abilities, as well as thoughts and behaviour.