Dementia : support for family and friends / Dave Pulsford and Rachel Thompson.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A comprehensive and practical guide to dementia, this book is essential reading for anyone who has a friend or relative with the condition. This updated edition reflects new guidance on approaches to supporting people with dementia, focussing especially on the UK, and includes quotes from people with dementia as well as from family carers.

The book explores each stage of the journey people with dementia face and explains how it affects the person, as well as those around them both at home and in residential settings. It shows how best to offer support and where to get professional and informal assistance. Focussing on the progressive nature of dementia and the issues that can arise as a result, it gives practical advice that can help to ensure the best possible quality of life both for the person with dementia and the people around them.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. 9)
• Introduction: About this Book (p. 11)
• Part 1 Living With Dementia
• 1 Becoming Familiar with Dementia (p. 17)
• What is dementia? (p. 17)
• Features of dementia (p. 18)
• Other considerations (p. 26)
• The extent of dementia (p. 27)
• What causes dementia? (p. 28)
• Can dementia be treated, cured or prevented? (p. 30)
• Dementia in seldom-heard groups (p. 31)
• Women and dementia (p. 37)
• A rights-based approach to dementia (p. 38)
• 2 Being a Family Member or Friend of a Person with Dementia (p. 41)
• Family, friends and becoming a 'main carer' (p. 43)
• The goals of supporting a person with dementia: Quality of life and well-being for all (p. 44)
• The qualities needed to support a person with dementia (p. 51)
• Understanding the nature of dementia (p. 53)
• Independence versus assistance (p. 55)
• The impact of dementia on children (p. 56)
• The role of peer and professional support (p. 58)
• Family members and friends: Looking after oneself and each other (p. 59)
• How this book can help (p. 62)
• 3 Someone Close to Me May Have Dementia: Assessment, Diagnosis and Types of Dementia (p. 63)
• Identifying dementia (p. 63)
• The first signs of dementia (p. 64)
• How people with dementia react to the onset of the condition (p. 66)
• Diagnosing dementia (p. 67)
• After the diagnosis (p. 72)
• Why is diagnosis important? (p. 73)
• Should the person with dementia be told the diagnosis? (p. 74)
• The main types of dementia (p. 76)
• Types of young-onset dementia (p. 83)
• Delirium - an additional note (p. 89)
• 4 Sources of Support for People with Dementia and their Families and Friends (p. 91)
• Professional health services (p. 91)
• Professional social care services (p. 94)
• Lay and peer support services (p. 98)
• Housing options (p. 99)
• Advice and signposting services (p. 100)
• Support services are there to help! (p. 101)
• Financial help and benefits (p. 101)
• Part 2 Understanding Dementia As It Progresses
• 5 The Early Years of Dementia (p. 109)
• The characteristics of early dementia (p. 109)
• Empathy and early dementia (p. 111)
• Awareness and capacity in early dementia (p. 114)
• Maintaining relationships and keeping active in early dementia (p. 116)
• Planning for the future (p. 125)
• Compiling a life story (p. 129)
• Intimacy and sexuality (p. 131)
• Assistive technology (p. 133)
• Driving (p. 135)
• Where should a person with early dementia live? (p. 137)
• The case for improving support services during the early years of dementia (p. 139)
• 6 Managing Change as Dementia Progresses (p. 141)
• How dementia progresses (p. 141)
• The changing nature of relationships (p. 144)
• Communication and language as dementia progresses (p. 147)
• Listening and responding to a person with communication difficulties (p. 150)
• Giving a message to a person whose dementia has progressed (p. 159)
• Asking a person with dementia questions (p. 160)
• Guiding and instructing (p. 161)
• Maintaining independence as dementia progresses (p. 163)
• 7 Social and Leisure Activities as Dementia Progresses (p. 167)
• Going out (p. 168)
• Helping out (p. 170)
• Exercising (p. 170)
• Activities of daily living (p. 172)
• Sights and sounds (p. 173)
• Pastimes (p. 176)
• Summary: Principles of promoting activity with people with dementia (p. 179)
• 8 The Challenges of Dementia (p. 183)
• Changes in behaviour (p. 183)
• Challenges to eating and drinking (p. 200)
• Challenges with using the toilet and managing continence (p. 205)
• Challenges due to sleep disturbances (p. 208)
• Challenges of hospital admission (p. 211)
• Challenges of vulnerability and abuse (p. 215)
• 9 Considering Residential Care for People with Dementia (p. 219)
• Perceptions of residential care (p. 219)
• What is residential care? (p. 220)
• The decision (p. 221)
• Choosing a care home (p. 225)
• Care home fees (p. 226)
• How to find out about care homes (p. 227)
• What should be expected of a care home? (p. 229)
• Visiting a care home: A checklist of what to look for (p. 231)
• Making the transition (p. 235)
• Staying involved (p. 237)
• Issues with residential care (p. 239)
• Conclusion: Care homes are places to live! (p. 246)
• 10 When Dementia Has Become Advanced (p. 247)
• The characteristics of advanced dementia (p. 247)
• Well-being and ill-being in advanced dementia (p. 249)
• Relationships with a person with advanced dementia (p. 251)
• Communication in advanced dementia (p. 252)
• Activity and advanced dementia (p. 254)
• Namaste care (p. 257)
• Helping people with advanced dementia with activities of daily living (p. 257)
• Approaching the end of life (p. 265)
• 11 The End of Life (p. 267)
• What is meant by 'end of life'? (p. 268)
• What causes death amongst people with dementia? (p. 269)
• Feelings of family members and friends as end of life approaches (p. 270)
• How would we want to die? (p. 271)
• Dementia and end of life care (p. 272)
• Supporting people who are dying (p. 277)
• A good death? (p. 279)
• Support after death (p. 280)
• Conclusion - Suffering from Dementia or Living with Dementia? (p. 283)
• Resources (p. 285)
• Index (p. 295)

Author notes provided by Syndetics