Special Management Techniques

Special Management Techniques

AGED CARE

DEMENTIA

Special Management Techniques

Reference:

Hegner, B. and Needham, J. Assisting in Long-term Care. 4th Edition. Delmar, Thomson Learning.

Prepared by Karen Teshuva - VictoriaUniversity Self Access Centre, 2005

AGED CARE

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Read the text.

2. Complete the exercises.

3. Check your answers with those at the back of the kit.

Reality Orientation:

For a person with dementiatime is not sequential. A person with dementia might be experiencing present time at one moment, the past at another and the future at another. The person with dementia might confuse the past with present time or they may confuse one person for another.

Reality orientation can help people with mild dementia to know:

  • where they are,
  • what time of the day, what day of the week it is or what year it is; and
  • to know who they are and who the people around them are.

For a person with mild dementia, reality orientation can decrease anxiety. In later stages, reality orientation is meaningless and increases agitation because reality for the person with dementia is so different from what we know in the real world. In the later stages of dementia it is necessary to accept whatever the dementia person claims as their reality - no matter how untrue it is to us.

Validation Therapy

A very popular technique with people with dementia is the use of a program called validation therapy. First, the idea behind validation therapy is to "validate" or accept thebeliefs and "Reality" of the dementia person - even if it very different from the real world. So, if a 67 year old man says that he is a high school student and he has to go to the high school so he can run the 100 yard race - validation therapy says, "OK."

Reminiscing

This technique involves caregivers listening to residents remembering times from the past. Recalling pleasant times from the past can help the resident feel happy about the life they have led. If they recall unpleasant life experiences the situation must be handled skillfully and tactfully. Reminiscing can help the caregiver to understand the resident better.

Redirecting

Redirecting is a simple technique of appearing to agree with the person; but getting them to go in a different direction (physically or conversationally) without them thinking they are being pushed into it.

Listening Comprehension

Topic 1:Validation and Redirection Therapy in the Dementia Series.

Topic 2:Reminiscing. This is a wonderful children’s story called ‘Wilford Gordon McDonald Partridge’ written by Mem Fox. It is about a small boy who helps an elderly women with dementia to recall her memories.

Exercise I:

Match these words to their definitions.

Reminiscing / Orientation /Orientate (verb) / Agitation
Reality / Validation / Sequential
Definition
following a particular order.
Feeling of being very upset
the state of things as they are, rather than as they are imagined to be
to discover your position in relation to your surroundings:
to talk or write about past experiences which you remember with pleasure.
to make something officially acceptable or approved of .

Exercise II:

Fill in the gaps with a word from Exercise I above.

  1. He escaped from ______by going to the cinema every afternoon.
  2. If you get lost while you are out walking, try to use the sun to

______yourself.

  1. My grandfather used to ______about his years in the navy.

Exercise III:

Noun / Verb / Adjective
sequential
orientation
to reminisce
validation
agitation
resident