Dementia (London, England)
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The personhood movement in dementia research has established the theoretical foundation for implementing cultural arts interventions in care practices. The underlying assumption is that professionals from the visual and the performance arts are well equipped to see the person behind the condition and to focus on possibilities for meaningful relationships in the here and now. ⋯ I will argue that expanding on existing research on poetry interventions from a health and science perspective with a humanities approach will help illuminate how poetry works to enhance the exchange with people with dementia. Drawing on participant observations of poetry interventions by Gary Glazner (Alzheimer's Poetry Project, USA) at the New York Memory Center, I will frame poetry interventions as a specific form of oral poetry in which people with dementia are positioned as cocreators of embodied texts and directly benefit from the power of the spoken word.
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The introduction of a person-centred care (PCC) approach to dementia care has been a major paradigmatic shift in the care provision in residential settings for older adults in Ireland. However, policy implementation in nursing homes relies very much on the preparedness of nursing staff. This study explored this through semi-structured interviews with care assistants in two nursing homes which professed to support the PCC philosophy. ⋯ Findings showed considerable disparity between policy and practice, in particular because care assistants lacked clarity on what PCC is and reported that they were not educated in it. Notwithstanding this, carers' perspectives on 'good care' for people with dementia included elements of PCC which suggested its 'implicit' use in practice. Besides the necessity of more (and more explicit) training on PCC, the findings also suggest concerns around communication between staff and management and the need for improvement of staffing resources and available time in residential settings in order to make the delivery of person-centred dementia care a reality.
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Dementia is a challenge in our society, with individuals accessing services across multiple settings. Carers are navigating and delivering care services in the home. This research sought to investigate the experiences of people with dementia and their carers when transitioning home from hospital. ⋯ This study highlights the need to acknowledge the expertise of the carer, and their need for support. Enabling a smooth discharge from hospital and support to navigate care access in the community is paramount. These experiences provide insight into gaps in service provision and modifying existing services may lead to improved experiences.
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The ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living deteriorates early in dementia and affects people with dementia and their carers. However, little is known about individual instrumental activities of daily living impairments. This study therefore investigated instrumental activities of daily living deficits in mild dementia by exploring the relationship between instrumental activities of daily living initiative and performance and general cognition, people with dementia quality of life and carer stress. Moreover, this study explored the contribution of social instrumental activities of daily livings, which to date have received little or no attention. ⋯ This study shows that people with mild dementia are impaired to different degrees on their initiative and performance of instrumental activities of daily livings and that impairments relating to social activities particularly relate to well-being. The revised Interview for Deterioration for Daily Living Activities in Dementia with its social instrumental activities of daily livings can help shift the focus of interventions to address those activities that are frequently impaired in mild dementia and relate to people with dementia and carer well-being.
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Mild cognitive impairment is a heterogeneous clinical state whereby assessed cognitive changes over time may progress to dementia, remain stable or revert to back to normal. This study aimed to identify, through discourse analysis, how people with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment used language in order to reveal the societal views and shared meanings of the diagnosis, and the positions taken by people. ⋯ Furthermore, in the absence of a coherent discourse related to mild cognitive impairment, participants went on to position themselves between two more familiar discourse; 'Knowing' about ageing and dying and 'Not Wanting to Know' about dementia. Clinicians must consider how information is presented to people about mild cognitive impairment, including where mild cognitive impairment is positioned in respect to normal ageing and dementia.