痴呆高齢者のケアは,本人だけでなく彼らを取り巻く家族等も同様に,心身ともにケアが必要な状況にある。痴呆高齢者とその家族等が望む高齢者ケアを知るために,彼らを対象とする意識調査を実施した。その結果,痴呆高齢者とその家族等は,高齢者ケアに対して,多くのことを期待しており,それを提供する立場である医療従事者の役割は大きいことがわかった。特に,精神的ケアや日常的なケアを重視している。また,痴呆高齢者とのコミュニケーションをより充実させることを期待している。なお,介護保険制度については,それを有益とみなす者とそうでない者とがほぼ同数であり,審査の過程や地域間格差について問題視していた。しかし,介護保険制度に対する否定的な回答と最も相関していたのは,保険料が高いことであった。(英文抄録：The essential matter in caring demented patients is not only to treat patients but also to provide care to family members specially to meet their emotional and psychological needs. In order to understand their needs, this study investigated what they desire and expect of medical team by surveying family members of dementia patients. Result showed that dementia patients and their family members had high expectations towards medical staff to fulfill a crucial role in providing care. The most important issues among the patients and their family were providing emotional and psychological care as well as providing daily nursing care. Moreover, it was significantly expected by patients and their family for medical team members to improve better communication among them. Regarding new elderly long term care insurance, for those who are satisfied and those who are not satisfied are evenly divided. It was pointed out that there are some inconsistencies in evaluative process involved in qualifying for the insurance and in regional differences in coverage. Also, the strong correlation was made between long term care insurance with high premium cost and negative view toward this insurance system among dementia patients and their family.)