There 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:
- The most important step is to know what the individual finds enjoyable
and interesting.
- Not all engagement is active. For example, some people like to spend time
outside feeling the sun and hearing birds or wind blowing.
- Sitting on the front porch and watching the neighborhood activity can be
interesting as well. Going for a walk is fun and good exercise.
- 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.