Dementia Care Approaches – Page 2 – The HPP Resource Center

Category: Dementia Care Approaches

Dementia Care: Change Begins with Us

This post is adapted from Getting Dementia Care Right: What’s Not Working and How It Can Change by Anne Ellett, M.S.N., NP. Copyright © 2023 by Health Professions Press, an imprint of Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Memory care is the fastest-growing area of senior living. Yet over the past many years, while there has been a proliferation of new attractive modern buildings, I have seen a lack of innovation and resources put toward staffing and education that would humanize and honor the human rights of residents with dementia. In the majority of residential care…

Validation Q&A with the Authors

Guidance from the Authors on Using Validation Are you currently using the Validation method in your care setting? Do you have questions? Authors of The Validation Breakthrough, Fourth Edition, Naomi Feil and Vicki de Klerk-Rubin, answer some frequently asked questions from people using Validation. New to Validation? Learn more here! I’ve tried Validation, but my client won’t talk with me. Why doesn’t it work? Which Validation techniques did you use? Did you Center and establish the phase of Resolution? If the older adult is in Phase Three, verbal techniques may not work. If your client feels…

Validation FAQs

What is the Validation method? Validation is a method for communicating with older adults who are diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. It is based on an attitude of respect and empathy for older adults with Alzheimer’s-type dementia who are struggling to resolve unfinished business before they die. Validation suggests a way of classifying the behaviors of these disoriented older adults and offers simple, practical techniques that help them restore dignity and avoid deteriorating into a vegetative state. Caregivers practicing the Validation method become empathetic listeners, who do not judge the person, but accept their view of reality.

Tips for Mealtimes with the Namaste Care Program

The Namaste Care™ program is a holistic end-of-life care program for people with advanced dementia. This approach affirms the individuality and enduring spirit of each person through comforting and meaningful sensory-based experiences. Namaste Care ensures that people receive specialized services and activities that are meaningful at this stage of their lives. The emphasis is not on the number of days left in a person’s life, but on the quality of those days. Here are some tips on how care partners can make dining a pleasurable experience, even if the person needs extensive cueing or can no longer eat independently. Helping…

Moving to the Care Home: Entering a New Life

Dagmardsminde is a small innovative nursing home in Denmark with a remarkable and life-affirming approach to dementia care. Here, founder of the home (and author of Living Normally with Dementia: One Care Home’s Story and How to Make it Yours), May Eiby, shares how they welcome new residents to their home. A nursing home should provide proper care for a person, but it can also be a place that opens up new possibilities. What if moving to a nursing home could become a kind of adventure for people? The goal at Dagmarsminde is to make moving to a nursing…

Starting with the Person: The Life Story and Human Rights

By Virginia Bell and David Troxel Rebecca Riley The Best Friends™ approach has been shaped by real people—people with dementia we have been privileged to meet and work with over the years. One of our earliest and most important “teachers” was a college friend of Virginia Bell. Rebecca Riley was a nurse educator who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in her 50s. As she traveled what we now call the continuum of care—from home care, to day center care, to residential care—we were happy to share almost all of the dementia journey with her, including hundreds of hours spent together…

“You Have to Be a Rebel Sometimes”

On a hot summer morning in Baltimore in 2014, Virginia Bell, then 92, led a training on her groundbreaking approach to dementia care—one that stresses human dignity, gives the caregiver ideas for success, and inspires more hopeful, life-affirming attitudes. Standing in front of a packed class of attentive caregivers from all over the country, she shared her strategies for bringing about true, person-centered change in dementia care. She told them, “You have to be a rebel sometimes.” Believe it or not, the idea of person-centered care was a rebellious one when Virginia Bell co-founded the Best Friends Approach to dementia…

How Friendship Works in the Context of Dementia Care

If you are new to the field of dementia care, it might be confusing to think that an in-home client, day center participant, or resident can be a friend. Maybe you’ve been taught to address someone as Mrs. Smith instead of Anne. Maybe you are worried about boundaries. Why is it so important to think about the elements of friendship as you go to work every day with 40 people with dementia? The reason goes back to empathy. It’s easy for someone with dementia to get lost in confusion and feel disconnected from the flow of life. Without our intervention,…

The Montessori Philosophy in Practice with Older Adults

Montessori philosophy, based on the principles of free choice and purposeful activity, has historically been focused on children’s education. However, its essential principles and practices are increasingly seen as critical to enhancing the lives of the older adults in our care. Central to both the Montessori philosophy and person-centered care are the core values of respect for the individual, the importance of knowing the person deeply, seeking and honoring the elder’s preferences over all aspects of his or her daily life, and creating a supportive environment that allows for continued participation in familiar and preferred activities, inside and outside. In…

Dementia Care at a Distance

The COVID-19 crisis is taking a heavy toll on all of us, particularly family and professional care partners. Visitors are prohibited in most residential care communities; this is necessary but certainly can be distressing to families and persons with dementia. Even when we are together, we are told to stay six feet apart. The very phrase “social distancing” is the opposite of the Best Friends™ Approach and what we want in quality dementia care. In many ways, socialization is the treatment for dementia. Social distancing (and lots of handwashing) is necessary to ensure good public health practices, but can we…

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