When responding to people with dementia focus on ‘stepping across’ to be with the person with dementia in their world – use imagination to improve understanding of the person’s experience, in the context of their life history and their needs.
Be generous with your time
People with dementia may not always appear to ‘make sense’ when communicating their experiences. We all struggle with communication and risk giving incorrect messages within relationships. We hope that our partners and the people in our lives will be generous in taking time to try and understand who we are and how we feel.
People with dementia need extra generosity given that their ability to communicate is compromised.
Be generous with your time.
Thank you for completing this workbook.
Further learning
Refer to resources section on this website for further information about:
- The National Dementia Strategy,
- Other SCIE resources,
- The Alzheimer’s Society Factsheets.
Further reading on person centred care
- May, H., Edwards, P. and Brooker, D. (2009) Enriched care planning for people with dementia: A Good Practice Guide to Delivering Person-Centred Care. Jessica Kingsley publishers, London.
- Stokes, G. (2008) And still the music plays: stories of people with dementia. Hawker publications, London.
- Kitwood, T. (1997) Dementia reconsidered: The person comes first. Open University Press, Buckingham.