8 Person centred approaches

Focus on the person rather than the illness

There are a number of factors that need to be considered when supporting people with dementia.

It’s important to focus on the person rather than the illness.

Rather than seeing dementia as the focus it is important to see and focus on the person.

Each person with dementia will change and react to their difficulties in a different way.

It is very helpful to know about a person. This will help to think about what the person could be experiencing.

Finding out all about a person’s life is very important.

Task 5: Think of a person you know who has dementia. Consider all the above areas. Download this document and use it to make notes about the person.

Consider different sources for the information, talk with the person with dementia as well as family and friends. Remember to protect personal information and confidentially, use initials not full names. In your notebook list something new that you have learnt about the person you are describing which you found interesting.

Further learning

Further learning resources «