This padlet will take you through different approaches for people with dementia.

Follows the numbres 1 to 6 and watch videos or read some theory.

The padlet ends with a question in Mentimeter.

Work it through, scan the QR code and answer the questions. Have fun.

Introduction

By now, you already have more knowledge about difficult behaviour in people with dementia.

This section explains a number of different approaches. After all, it is not wise to assume 1 approach.

However, some approaches are more applicable at certain stages of dementia than others. Six approaches are covered.

Reality Orientation Training (ROT)

Description: by paying systematic attention to memory and orientation practice, an attempt is made to slow down any deterioration with regard to these functions.
Target group: originally aimed primarily at older people with incipient memory and orientation problems.

Application examples: group practice tailored to the here-and-now living world.

Warm care

Description: Anxiety and feelings of insecurity are common.

Through an adapted and as much as possible familiar environment and guidance, efforts are made to prevent or cope with those feelings.
Target group: people with dementia.
Application examples: setting up environment that is recognisable combined with guidance aimed at building and maintaining relationships.

Validation

Naomi feil makes contact, in this video Naomi feil explains how her experiential approach works.

Description: getting in touch with the person with dementia and confirming their living world. To remove anxiety and restore self-worth.
Target group: people in all stages of their dementia.
Application examples: Accepting behaviour and expressions by empathising. And going along with the expressions.

Sensory activation (sensory stimulation)

Description: stimulating the senses, as people with dementia are often more attuned to body language and physical contact. With this, pleasant feelings can be stimulated or fears reduced.

Target group: people with advanced dementia for whom verbal contact is difficult.

Application examples: room with many materials to stimulate senses, e.g. with light, scent and music.

The video below explains that, MIT neuroscientists in the lab of Professor Li-Huei Tsai at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, working with the labs of Professors Emery N. Brown and Ed Boyden study whether sensory stimulation — light and/or sound — can reduce Alzheimer's disease pathology and improve memory by increasing the power of gamma rhythms in the brain. Two papers in 2019 reported encouraging results in multiple mouse models of the disease. Research is done with human volunteers.

If you are inspired after the video you can find the articles in the links below

Papers:
Gamma Entrainment Binds Higher-Order Brain Regions and Offers Neuroprotection
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Multi-sensory Gamma Stimulation Ameliorates Alzheimer's-Associated Pathology and Improves Cognition
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

More information at http://picower.mit.edu

Reminisence

Description: aimed at stimulating and retrieving memories. Talking to each other about themes from the past. This stimulates memory, strengthens social contacts and self-identity.
Target group: people in all stages of dementia
Application examples: group discussion of themes . For example, school days with stimulating materials from that time.

In this video below, you can see 'The Nostalgia Cart' this is a wheeled bakery cart filled with products from 'then' (back in the day). Caregivers in nursing homes can work with residents (diagnosed with dementia) and the cart to reminisce about the past. Retrieving memories also helps residents function better in the 'now'. This process is called reminiscence. Paying attention, having a conversation produces beautiful and moving moments. In this short film, welfare worker Joke Kramer talks to Mrs Slot about the past.
The video is in Dutch but can be subtitled in English. You can do this by clicking on the cogwheel (as seen in the picture below) and set subtitles.

Passivity daily life (PDL)

Description: is used with people who are no longer able to care for themselves or move around independently. Special actions are taken or provisions made to counteract negative consequences. Care recipients no longer need to be activated and care is mainly focused on comfort.
Target group: people who are immobile and/or bedridden
Application examples: easy-to-use garments or comfortable sitting and lying aids. And applying specific programmes

A final question for reflection on the learning of this section