The state of psychogeriatrics in Europe: challenges and opportunities in six European countries.

With the increase in aging all over the world, and the elderly population nearly tripling from 524 million (8% of the world’s population) in 2010 to 1.5 billion (16% of the world’s population) in 2050, we will face new challenges and opportunities in providing healthcare. In 2050, it is estimated that Europe will see an increase of 70% in elderly population aged over 65 years, and 170% in those aged over 80 years (World Health Organization (WHO), 2011). It is vital to respond to the needs of this emerging population and the consequent rise in chronic diseases, especially dementia and mental health disorders, which will overload the healthcare system, as well as raise health and social costs, and demand new policies from national governments (World Health Organization, 2012). We urgently need to know how to organize healthcare for elderly people in the years to come. The present study was initiated under the umbrella of the President’s Forum, organized by the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) at its International Congress in 2011 in The Hague, the Netherlands, where challenges and opportunities were discussed by IPA-affiliated national psychogeriatric associations. Between 2011 and 2012, these 20 IPA affiliates were invited to submit a written report, resulting in the first paper (Wang et al., 2013). Based on this, a comparative study about the current state of psychogeriatrics with particular focus on the six European affiliates’ (Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland) reports was carried out. In this study, a qualitative analysis, using the NVivo program (QSR International, 2013) was performed, focusing on the needs for the development of psychogeriatrics, strengths and resources, and the definition of an action plan in each country.