Senior Care News

How to Communicate with People Who Have Dementia

  Believe in their personhood

The goal in caring for a person with dementia is their well-being. Tom Kitwood, one of the most respected voices in early dementia care and the author of Dementia Reconsidered, says that we can enhance the well-being of individuals with dementia by “facilitating a sense of personal worth, a sense of agency, social confidence, and a basic trust of security in the environment and in others.”

The critical element in facilitating a sense of self-worth for individuals with dementia is to adopt the unwavering belief that, regardless of how profoundly confused they may be, each one is a sentient person. When you demonstrate this attitude in the presence of a person with dementia through your words and actions, you foster in that individual a sense of both personal worth and the ability to act and make decisions independently wherever possible; in essence, you honor their personhood. Kitwood says, “Personhood is a standing or status that is bestowed upon one human being by others, in the context of relationship and social being. It implies recognition, respect, and trust.”

www.blessingsforseniors.com

Jack Coito

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