In yesterday’s post I discussed some of the interventions in long term care that caregivers have found to be successful. Some of the additional interventions include:
Incontinence Management: Monitoring incontinence, scheduling bathroom time, and providing reminders are techniques that can help caregivers manage incontinence at home.
Providing a Supportive Environment: Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are highly sensitive to their environment and have a decreased tolerance for stress. Your physician or geriatric care manager can help you identify the environmental triggers (for example, lights that are too bright or uncomfortable room or water temperatures) that may cause behavioral problems and work with you to eliminate them.
Traditional Psychosocial Therapy: Counseling can help patients in mild states of dementia reduce anger, anxiety, fear, suspiciousness, frustration, and depression. A mental health professional can provide advice and encouragement and help the patient interpre his or her feelings.
Reminiscence Therapy: By receiving encouragement and support from peers, patients can draw upon their long-term memory to recall and share events from their past. Reminiscence therapy often is conducted in group settings but can be used on an individual basis.
Validation: As dementia progresses, caregivers may find that attempts to correct their loved one’s misstatements or delusion do more harm than good. Validation is a technique in which the family member or caregiver affirms the patient’s attempts to communicate, even if the patient is engaged in a false sense of reality.
Simulated Presence: A person with moderate to severe dementia may find comfort in simulated conversations with a close friend or family member when the individual cannot be there in person. A simple audio or videotape recording of the individual recounting past events, with pauses to allow the patient to respond, provides a temporary companionship and allows caregivers to attend to other things.
Pet Therapy: Petting or watching small pets can improve the mood and behavior of dementia patients. Pets can be introduced in both group and individual settings.
Recreational Therapies: Recreational therapies include drawing, collage, coloring, sculpture, dance, and listening to music. These activities provide a creative outlet for the patient to express emotions without talking. Other benefits include mood improvement, sensory and intellectual stimulation, decreased agitation, and improved motor skills.
Elayne Forgie has been a professional geriatric care manager for over 20 years and was a founding Board Member of the Florida Geriatric Care Managers Association. She is the President/CEO of ElderCare at Home, Inc. and The Alzheimer's Care Resource Center. Information on this website or contained in this article is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider.
