Dealing with Dementia: 4 Communication Strategies Most Family Members Overdo
Dementia is a progressive condition that brings out negative impacts on your elderly loved ones’ lives. However, UC-Cares Home Health Services LLC, your principal provider of home health services in Great Plains Way, Bolingbrook, IL, sees prevalent concerns among family members when they talk with their elders with Dementia. Here are some of the most common communication strategies that most family members overdo when talking with them:
1. Speaking steadily and normally
Some family members tend to speak slower than the usual thinking that it would help their elders understand what they are saying. Most seniors, however, find this quite inconveniencing and bothersome.
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However, always remember that “too much of anything can make you sick, even the good can be a curse”. So, too much conversation may only overstress their minds and their hearing capability as well.
4. Have extra patience
Memory is the main storage of every second of your life. A progressive failure in the brain may cause different negative difficulties on elders’ lives. As family members, you should be able to extend your patience when you want them to do something. It is better if they assisted by your chosen home health care companion from the agency of home health services in Great Plains Way, Boling. UC-Cares Home Health Services LLC is your primary source of home health services in Great Plains Way, Bolingbrook, IL! Let your elders’ home health care needs be attended prudently and professionally. Our home health care professionals are ready to help with the best of care and management skills they have honed by experience and tutelage. If you are already considering that we can essentially help you, we are open from Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5:30 PM. For appointments and consultation reasons, you may contact us at this number: 630-225-7234. You can also email us at Info@UCCares.com or visit our website at
Patient living in the nursing homes with diagnosis of dementia experience Disruptive behavior. According to Burton et al. (2015) more than 44 million people have dementia. Dementia affects memory, thinking and social abilities. These symptoms severely interfere with daily functioning of the patient. Approximately 90% of dementia patients demonstrate psychological and behavioral symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, depression, hallucination, delusion, and aggression (Chen et al., 2014). Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a varied group of non-cognitive symptoms affecting demented patients. These symptoms are delusion, hallucination, agitation, anxiety, euphoria, disinhibition, night-time behavioral disturbances
Individuals with dementia find it difficult to understand words and meanings and forget what is being said even while we are speaking. Communication is more difficult if they are tired or upset. You may find they repeat questions frequently as they cannot remember asking them. When talking to an individual who has any form of dementia ensure that you speak clearly and face the individual. Make sure there are no distracting sounds. Maintain eye contact and remain calm and pleasant. Use simple sentences and words always giving the individual time to understand.
All forms of dementia can affect the way a person communicates, so in time they may have to find different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings. As a carer your non-verbal communication will become important, your body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone of voice will have to be taken into account when you are communicating with a sufferer. In the early stages of some forms of dementia people may have difficulty finding the right word they are looking for, and in the later stages of some forms of dementia the words could be lost completely. As the dementia progresses, it gets a lot
Communicating with the elderly who have dementia requires patience and not only the ability to recognize when a patient is becoming upset, but the ability to soothe the patient and prevent any further distress. Patients with dementia have a hard time carrying on a conversation due to a loss of memory, which in turn limits their vocabulary as well as their thinking process. It is important for a nurse to understand this and not push the patient. Speaking slowly and clearly, as well as using simple sentences, can help aid the process of communication. Non-verbal cues are also a great way to communicate with someone who cannot always understand what is being said to them.
Dementia is slowly becoming an issue that is affecting the aging population around the world. About 35.6 million people suffer from dementia worldwide which will most likely increase to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050 (Prince, Bryce, Albanese, Wimo, Ribeiro, & Ferri, 2013). The neural degeneration of the brain causes emotional and behavioral problems, social and occupational dysfunction, personality changes, and difficulties with intellectually complex issues (Yoon, Lee, Lim, Kim, Jeon & Mun, 2013). As a result, dementia severely affects memory, thought process, judgement, orientation, and social abilities. Coinciding with these cognitive disabilities are physical disabilities due to muscle weakness and poor balance. Elissa Burton from the School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science at Curtin University, Australia, says that people with dementia are 50–80% more likely to suffer a fall than people without dementia. ‘Often it may be due to reduced muscle strength and balance, which being physically active can help prevent,’ says Elissa (Mendes, 2015). Physical activity is beneficial to the aging population as well as for those who are diagnosed with dementia. Being active help maintain and improve cardiovascular health, muscle strength, joint flexibility and balance, but importantly for people with
It can be very difficult caring for a patient with dementia. Most caregivers are unaware
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Before you are able to do an activity and get resident to be involved, you must be able to gain trust from them as this will get people to attend your group. In addition, you must choose activities and games relating to one’s level of functioning since you are working with resident who have different severity level of dementia. You must also learn and understand that you must be flexible when facilitating a group as anything can happen. For example, when one resident is not cooperating during a group or making a scene like making a fuss during an activity then you must be able to remove that residents or move onto another activity.
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This assignment critically discusses about dementia, a widespread disability among older adults today. It provides an introduction to dementia and analyses its prevalence in society. The various forms of dementias are elaborated with description about dysfunctions and symptoms. Nursing Assessment and Interventions are provided in the further sections which discusses about actions nurses should take on while evaluating patients and treating them. Finally, communication, an important Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is explored and patient/carer advice is presented so as to maintain good health conditions in the patient.
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