Two approaches to dementia care
Posted by Patti on April 26th, 2007 / 
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I found this article about an author of a book about caring for people with dementia and nursing homes.
Through an intensive comparative study of two nursing home units using contrasting approaches to dementia care for elders with severely disturbed behaviors, Central Michigan University professor of anthropology Athena McLean has found that “humanizing” approaches to dementia care may not only extend quality of life for patients, but also their length of life.In McLean’s recently published book, “The Person in Dementia: A Study of Nursing Home Care in the U.S.,” she discusses the dramatic contrasts in the outcomes of the two approaches to dementia care: a rigid task-oriented maintenance approach emphasizing disease progression and a flexible person-sustaining approach attentive to elders’ communication and individual needs.
McLean found dramatic differences between life quality of the patients at the two nursing units. The patients at the unit that focused on “personhood”, or looking beyond physical and reasoning abilities to a person’s will and relationship with others, were found to be happier, had an overall improved quality of life and even lived longer. Those at the unit emphasizing disability and pathology tended to have their personal needs ignored, were heavily medicated and often failed to thrive.
Does this surprise anyone?
“These findings address issues that medicine can’t answer,” said McLean. “They are valuable not only for improving the general quality of life for these elders, but also for the long-term outcome based on how they are treated and cared for. These elders require attention, time and a lot of caring interaction.”McLean’s findings also demonstrated how relations among professional and administrative staff within a facility can significantly affect the quality of the dementia care elders receive.
Based in this article I just ordered the book from Amazon.
Here are the details:
# Paperback: 328 pages
# Publisher: Broadview Press; 1 edition (October 31, 2006)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1551116065
# ISBN-13: 978-1551116068
April 29th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Those research findings on the importance of focusing on the “personhood” of patients with dementia remind me of a 2007 study on the impact of a person-centered workplace in the work lives of CNA’s. Again, the results were not surprising: Caring managers who produce a person-centered workplace can inspire workers to become excellent caregivers who enhance the lives of patients. You can read more about this study at my April 24, 2007 post at the Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
I got the report Francis and it was not surprising to me, at all.