Dementia care

Early in my career my research focused on family caregiving for the elderly. Since I was trained as a demographer, my interests were in how many caregivers an older person might have, where they might live, what services they might provide. Other researchers focused on issues of "caregiver burden," what it meant to be a caregiver and the stresses encountered. I was not particularly interested in those aspects of care at the time, and gradually my research moved away from caregiving altogether. I felt that there wasn't much new to say there.

Yesterday's NY Times had an interesting story about dementia care. The article highlighted an unusual approach taken by a nursing home in Arizona that attempted to provide individualized care for every patient. Surprisingly, they felt that by understanding the PERSON, they might be able to provide better care. They tried to find activities that appealed to the past hobbies of the patient, rather than playing bingo. For instance, one man who had loved to fish was given a plastic tackle box and tackle that he could arrange every day.

One of the features of Alzheimers is often a sense of distress and sadness. This is accompanied sometimes by behavior problems. Strangely, this nursing home found that creating positive emotional experiences for Alzheimer’s patients diminishes distress and behavior problems. It seems that emotions persist after cognition declines. So, creating positive emotions helps to create positive behaviors in those with dementia. Food, too, is critical. From the article, Comforting food improves behavior and mood because it “sends messages they can still understand: ‘it feels good, therefore I must be in a place where I’m loved,’ ”

As I start to deal more personally with the effects of dementia in my life, through family and friends, it is helpful to think about the value of positive emotional experiences in creating the best possible environment. But, then these messages apply to more than dementia, don't they?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/health/01care.html?emc=eta1