Should People With Dementia

Being diagnosed with dementia will affect people in different ways. The service user could become withdrawn and depressed, this will affect their well-being and how they look after and treat them self’s. They can start to self-harm or neglect them self’s through personal hygiene or through there eating, eating too much or too little. They may even become so depressed and down in mood

Nearly 135 million people worldwide will be impacted by dementia by 2050 (Robinson, Tang, Taylor,. 2015). Dementia is not a disease, it is an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with the decline in memory and thinking skills. Dementia is a progressive illness that results in the loss of one’s sense of self (Burns, Byrne, Ballard, Holmes, 2002). The two most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular dementia. Dementia is progressive and people with dementia experience complications with short-term memory, keeping track of personal items, paying bills, taking care of themselves and daily tasks (Haigh, Mytton, 2016). Due to the rising number of individuals developing dementia, it is causing major challenges in the healthcare systems and society (Angermeter, Luck, Then, Riedel-Heller, 2016). Utilizing psychotropic medications are often ineffective or harmful to the individual, therefore, many patients decide to utilize sensory therapy as a form of treatment instead (Livingston, Kelly olmes, et al., 2014). Caregivers of individuals with dementia can also experience health consequences related to caregiving at the end of life. Spousal caregivers are 40.5% higher odds of experiencing frailty as a result of caregiving (Carr, Dassel, 2017). Dementia does not only affect the individual, it affects those around them, society, and the healthcare system.

Individuals with dementia have impairment in mental capacity and people can discriminate against when it comes to exercise their rights. People with dementia face a poor quality of life which lead the person to be isolated and loss his self esteem.

People who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living. They can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medicines, hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Turning on the cooker or water and forgetting to turn it off again, locking doors, crossing streets etc can all be dangerous even deadly. In the same way as you would not think an infant capable of self care, a person with dementia cannot be either. Considering the facts that they cannot act in the manner of a

Allow the person with dementia and their family plan and make arrangements for the future

and risk. People with dementia can have mood swings and there personality can even change altogether. As carers we need to set boundaries to keep a person safe without infringing on a there rights, which can be difficult, especially in the advanced stages of dementia but there are some effective techniques to aid.

• In order to understand the situation an individual with dementia, and help most effectively, we need to look at situations from the point of view of the person with dementia.

Enhancing dignity in the care of people with dementia Professor Lesley Baillie Florence Nightingale Foundation Chair of Clinical Nursing Practice, London South Bank University and University College :London Hospitals Plan Types of dignity • Human dignity: the dignity that all humans have and cannot be taken away • Social dignity: experienced through interaction - dignity-of-self and dignity-inrelation (Jacobson 2007) • So for people with dementia: • We must acknowledge and respect their human dignity • We must recognise how their dignity is affected by how they feel and by our interactions with them  What is the meaning of dignity? How does it feel to have dignity?

The term ‘dementia’ describes a set of symptoms which can include loss of memory, mood changes and problems with communication and reasoning. These symptoms occur when the brain is damaged by certain conditions and diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 
Age is the greatest risk factor for dementia. Dementia affects one in 14 people over the age of 65 and one in six over the age of 80. However, dementia is not restricted to older people: in the UK, there are over 17,000 people under the age of 65 with dementia, although this figure is likely to be an underestimate.

Dementia has a huge impact on not only the lives of them self’s but also the family and carer. Watching the person you love degenerate from a fully functioning person to some one that needs to be fully cared for. As a carer, you are likely to experience a range of different feelings. This is particularly difficult because as dementia gradually causes the person’s abilities and personality to change the nature of relationships will also change (better health). The

1 UNDERSTAND KEY LEGISLATION AND AGREED WAYS OF WORKING THAT SUPPORT THE FULFILMENT OF RIGHTS AND CHOICES OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DEMENTIA WHILE MINIMISING RISK OF HARM

Focusing on dementia, it is not constantly possible to involve the dementia sufferers in the decision making course of their care without encouragement and assistance by

Working in a hospital setting predominantly with older people, I have encountered many who have been diagnosed with dementia. Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms caused by certain diseases or conditions of the brain of which there are two main types; Alzheimer’s disease and Multi Infarct dementia more commonly known as Vascular dementia. Dementia is caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain which cannot be replaced which means that dementia is a progressive condition that gets worse over time and cannot be reversed. It is also a long term condition because it takes months or even years to progress and there is no actual cure. (Alzheimer’s Society 2014) This degenerative condition is more common in older people, however,

Buijssen 2005 suggests that depression is a main factor with dementia due to lots of feelings of helplessness and anxiety which can cause the service user to have challenging out bursts. To enable a person to remain in their home safely and independently other people will be involved. This depends on how advanced the dementia is, otherwise the service

Dementia effects your memory and a person’s ability to achieve a normal everyday task and activities.