COVID-19 Information - Click Here
Skip to Content
Homewatch CareGivers
LocationsIcon of Map Pin
  • Caregiver Jobs
  • Franchise Opportunities
  • Care Community Blog
  • Contact Us
close
  • Back
  • Home
  • About Home Care
    • Back
    • What is Home Care
    • Types of Care
    • Financing Options
    • Cost
    About Home Care Homewatch CareGivers® believes good care should not interfere with your quality of life. We deliver the compassionate care our clients need to help complete day-to-day activities while still maintaining a healthy dose of independence.
  • Types of Care
    • Back
    • Elder Care
    • 24-Hour Care
    • Child Care
    • Respite Care
    • Senior Transportation Services
    • Companion Care
    • Hospital Discharge
    • Chronic Conditions Care
    • Dementia Care
    • Nursing Services
    • After Surgery Care
    • Personal Care
    Types of Care Our clients have many different reasons for requiring care, so we strive to provide services tailored to their individual needs and circumstances. Homewatch CareGivers delivers various types of in-home care that focus on the whole person—not just their condition.
  • Resources
    • Back
    • ALS
    • Arthritis
    • Dementia
    • Developmental Disabilities
    • Diabetes
    • Heart Disease
    • Parkinson's Disease
    • Senior Safety
    • Stroke
    • For Health Care Providers
    • Ask The Experts
  • Our Story
    • Back
    • Team Bios
    • Facts & History
    • National Quality Forum
    • In the Media
    • Home Care Association of America
    Our Story Homewatch CareGivers was founded on the concept of person-directed care: focusing on the specific needs of the individual and treating each client as a whole person, not just a condition. We strive to provide in-home care services that allow people to continue living safely and happily in their own homes.
  • Why Choose Us?
    • Back
    • Our Caregivers
    • Questions to Ask
    • Homewatch CareGivers University
    • Client Testimonials
    • In-Home Senior Safety
    Why Choose Us? Let our family care for yours. At Homewatch CareGivers, we value not only highly qualified caregiving services but also human interactions and relationships. Our people make the difference.
LocationsIcon of Map Pin

Staying Engaged

Staying Engaged May 26, 2015
Blog Categories
  • COVID-19
  • A Business with a cause
  • Addressing Isolation & Loneliness
  • Age at home
  • Age in place
  • Aging at Home
  • Aging Parent
  • aging parents
  • animal therapy
  • Anxiety Support
  • Best Home Care
  • Care for Aging Parents
  • Care for My Aging Parent
  • Caregiver
  • Caregiver Assistance
  • Caregiver Stress
  • caregiving assistance
  • caring star
  • caring star award
  • caring.com
  • caring.com award
  • Coping and Caregiving
  • Coronavirus
  • Cost of Care
  • Dementia
  • dementia care
  • Elderly Parent Care
  • Employee Spotlight
  • Essential Caregiver Skills
  • Events
  • Falls Prevention
  • Family Caregiver
  • Financial Resources
  • Franchise
  • Franchising
  • handling caregiver stress
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Holiday Celebration
  • Home Care
  • Home Watch Caregivers
  • Homewatch CareGivers
  • how to manage caregiver stress
  • In-Home Safety
  • Job Fair
  • Local
  • Long Term Care
  • Long Term Care Options
  • National Public Health Week
  • New Office in New Haven
  • older parents
  • parents aging
  • Parkinson’s Symptoms
  • Passion of Caregiving
  • Pet Therapy
  • Planning Ahead
  • Provider Choice Award
  • Senior Care & Aging
  • Senior Exercise
  • service dog
  • Social Distancing
  • stress
  • therapy dog
  • top rated home care agency
  • wandering

Woman PaintingThere are a lot of uncertainties after a diagnosis of dementia—for the individual living with the disease and for their family. Yet experts advise staying engaged with life during the early stages of dementia and then keeping someone with dementia engaged as the disease progresses.

As a person’s ability to recognize their loved ones recedes when dementia progresses, it can be challenging to stay engaged. Despite the illness there is a still a better quality of life to experience when a person can engage their mind and body with social, physical, and creative activities.

“Engaging older persons with dementia inappropriate activities has been shown to yield beneficial effects such as increasing positive emotions, improving activities of daily living (ADL) and improving the quality of life,” state the authors of a paper title, “Engagement in persons with dementia: the concept and its measurement” that was published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. “The study of engagement is a necessary foundation for the development of nonpharmacological interventions for persons with dementia, whether the interventions address depression, agitation, apathy, loneliness, or boredom.”

Drop the Stigma ASAP

Societal stigmas about dementia may be interfering with the possibilities for engagement.

“A 2012 public opinion survey conducted by the Marist Institute of more than 1,200 Americans placed dementia as the most feared health condition above cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes,” explains Karen Love, founder of the Dementia Action Alliance. “This is likely because dementia is a condition saddled with societal stigmas and one that is widely misunderstood. The misperceptions and societal stigmas are of dementia being all doom and gloom and lost abilities rather than a positive orientation to support and engage existing strengths and abilities. Positive engagement is central to psychosocial well-being.”

Ms. Love shares examples of people living with dementia who are finding ways to remain engaged in their lives despite their diagnosis. One of these examples if that of a retired pharmacist living with young-onset dementia who devised a simple, ingenious plan he calls ASAP to help support his well-being. “ASAP stands for Acceptance, Socialization, Attitude, and Purpose,” Ms. Love said. “This means accepting he has a degenerative neurocognitive disorder, staying active socially because it is important to him, keeping a positive attitude about life, and continuing activities that provide him purpose and interesting things to do.”

But How?

As a family caregiver or friend to someone living with dementia, you may not know how to continue to engage with them, despite your best intentions. Ms. Love notes that there are countless ways to positively engage someone who is living with dementia, and offers a few tips:

  1. The most important step is to know what the individual finds enjoyable and interesting.
  2. Not all engagement is active. For example, some people like to spend time outside feeling the sun and hearing birds or wind blowing.
  3. Sitting on the front porch and watching the neighborhood activity can be interesting as well. Going for a walk is fun and good exercise.
  4. Looking at magazines and picture books together is interesting and provides ways to stimulate conversation.

Ms. Love is the Managing Director of FIT Kits®, engagement products for people living with dementia. They are evidence-based and research-tested under a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Each kit includes different activities—puzzles, games, fitness, and more.

“The research found that 90% of care partners reported that the individual living with dementia enjoyed FIT Kit® activities a lot, and the same percentage of care partners reported that they enjoyed the engagement as well,” she says. “FIT Kit items were able to address the challenge of finding interesting and meaningful things to do and increased the quality of interaction between the individual and care partners.”

Ultimately, it matters how we treat each person.

“Our understanding and expectations about what an individual can or cannot do affects how we treat them, and how they are treated subsequently impacts upon their overall well-being,” says Ms. Love.

Posted By Homewatch CareGivers
  • Share
Blog Home - Previous Post | Next Post
More Posts Like This
  • Is Caregiving for You?
    Mar 22, 2021

    Is Caregiving for You?

    There might be some jobs out there better suited to a specific age in life, but caregiving can—and is—done by people from all ages and stages of life.

    Read More
  • The Benefits of Togetherness
    Mar 22, 2021

    The Benefits of Togetherness

    It might be time to start thinking about being together again. Well-being is not just about exercise and nutrition, but also relationships and emotional sturdiness.

    Read More
  • Caregiver Burnout and Other Risks
    Mar 22, 2021

    Caregiver Burnout and Other Risks

    Too much caregiving without support can lead to burnout and other ailments for a family caregiver. Learn how to avoid injury, stress, and maintain well-being.

    Read More
Homewatch CareGivers Caregiving Services
Find Your Location Homewatch CareGivers is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Help & Info
  • About Homecare
  • Types of Care
  • Financing Options & Programs
  • Our Resources
  • Owner Login
Our Company
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Caregiver Jobs
  • Blog
  • Franchise Opportunities
Other
  • National Homepage Homewatch CareGivers University Login Privacy Policy Site Map
  • Accessibility Notice
  • HIPAA Disclaimer
  • Do Not Sell My Information - California Residents
Follow Us On

Part of the Authority Brands Family

Authority Brands is the leading provider of in-home services, building brands that support the success of franchisees as well as better the lives of the homeowners we serve and the people we employ.
/
Copyright © 2021 | Homewatch CareGivers® is a trademark owned by Homewatch International, Inc.™ and licensed for use to independently-owned franchised businesses that offer caregiver services to the public. All personal services, elderly care, caregiving and home care services offered OR provided under the Homewatch CareGivers™ mark are offered and provided only by independently-owned franchises and, where required, licensed OR registered businesses and care agencies. Scorpion Franchise Internet Marketing
x

⚠

Your browser is out of date. To get the full experience of this website, please update to most recent version.

Update My Browser