Issues Faced by People with Dementia and Role of Dementia Australia in Addressing Them: A Case Study Analysis

This essay examines the issues faced by people with dementia and its impact on patient and their family members by the analysis of the case study of Leda Alexiou, an 81 year old patient with symptoms of dementia. The essay also provides a discussion on the role of Aged Care Assessment Team in addressing the needs of Leda and her family and the role of other types of service in supporting Leda.

Running head: DEMENTIA
Dementia
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Dementia is a progressive mental disorder associated with symptoms of cognitive
decline, memory impairment and communication related issues in affected individual. Symptoms
like inability to focus, poor reasoning and judgment and social impairment has a negative impact
on the life of people with dementia. The diagnosis of dementia and management of behavioral
and psychological symptoms of dementia becomes a challenge for patient as well as their family
member (Kales, Gitlin & Lyketsos, 2015). This essay examines the issues faced by people with
dementia and its impact on patient and their family members by the analysis of the case study of
Leda Alexiou, an 81 year old patient with symptoms of dementia. The essay also provides a
discussion on the role of Aged Care Assessment Team in addressing the needs of Leda and her
family and the role of other types of service in supporting Leda.
The first section of the essay looks at the main issues in the case study and its impact on
people with dementia and their family. From the review of the case study of 81 year old woman
Leda Alexiou, it has been found that she has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. Vascular
dementia is the second most common cause of dementia that occurs because of impaired supply
of blood to the brain. This results in decline of thinking skills and changes in perception of
people. Confusion, disorientation, vision loss and trouble in speaking are common symptoms
found in patient (T O'Brien & Thomas, 2015). Leda’s family also found such changes in Leda
after transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs). Three years ago, she suffered from series of transient
ischaemic attacks (TIAs) and after the TIAs, abnormal behavioral symptoms were observed by
her family members. Leda found it hard to find English words while speaking and she failed to
follow easy knitting patterns which could do easily previously. The severity of the condition was
also evident from the fact that Leda could no longer read or understand English and could
converse only in Greek dialect. Leda was also a patient with Type 1 diabetes. Age, diabetes,

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stroke and hypertension are common risk factors contributing to vascular dementia and three of
these risk factors were found in Leda too (Song et al., 2014). Evidence support the fact that Type
2 diabetes and increases risk of cardiovascular disease as well as dementia and the risk of
vascular dementia is particularly higher in women (Chatterjee et al., 2016).
From the review of Leda’s case scenario, it can be said that impaired communication and
poor thinking skills is a major issue for patient. As Leda is an 81 year old patient, age has
deteroriated her symptoms. This can be explained by the fact that insulin receptors which are
related to cognitive function decrease with increasing age (Song et al., 2014). As Leda has lost
her ability to read and converse in English, this is a major issue for patient as this will create
communication challenges for patient and lead to impaired social interaction. Due to her inability
to convey thoughts and feelings, symptoms of uncertainty and confusion will increase for Leda.
She is likely to socially isolate from people and may develop signs of depression too because of
social isolation. Kim et al., (2016) also supports the fact that social interaction is greatly linked to
dementia as poor social interaction worsens symptoms of patient and positive social ineteraction
can bring positive changes in patient. Communication difficultly can increase challenges for the
family member or carer of Leda too as they may fail to understand message of patient. A family
carer may also feel bereft due to changes in communication and relationship with dementia
patient. In this situation, carer may also need support from professionals to learn the skills to
communicate with people with dementia and effectively fulfill unmet needs of their love ones
(Feast et al., 2016).
Another issues identified from Leda’s case scenario is symptom of aggression and
irritability in patient. After the diagnosis of vascular dementia, Leda’s behavior has changed
drastically. Her younger sister, Jocasta became the primary carer of Leda after started forgetting

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her medication and Jocasta suffered a lot because of Leda’s verbally abusive behavior. Leda was
found to be agitated and irritated most of the time and she suffered from mood swings mostly in
the evening. Verbal aggression and irritation is another major issue found in the case study as
this has had adverse impact on mental health of her sister Jocasta. Jocasta suffers from distress
because of her sister’s aggressive behavior and this problem has also affected her ability to
provide Leda’s diabetes medication on time as Leda becomes irritate while taking medications
too. Jocasta is tired and low in energy and cannot go out for refreshment also because of the need
to care for Leda. Husebo et al. (2014) also supports the fact that behavioral disturbances like
aggression and agitation are common in patients with dementia and these symptoms increase
stress and depression in patients and their carers. The analysis of case study implies that
dementia has affected the mental health and quality of life of Leda and her carers too. Hence, this
issue needs to be managed to ensure that family cares have the right coping ability to handle
adverse symptoms of patient with dementia.
From the review of Leda’s case scenario, it is understood that appropriate dementia care
service is necessary to manage behavioral symptoms in patient and decrease stress for her carer,
Jocasta. As Leda is a citizen of Victoria, ‘Dementia Australia’ organization has been chosen to
help Leda and address the issues faced by her care Jocasta. Dementia Australia is an
international organization that works with people living with dementia and their family members
and carer to fulfill their needs. It is a member of Alzheimer’s Disease Australia and provide
range of service and national dementia programs to provide support to people living with
dementia. The type of service includes the National Dementia Helpline, early intervention
programs, Dementia and Memory Community Centres, Counselling, carer support groups and
education for family carers (Dementia.org.au. 2018). There are many specific programs

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implemented in Dementia Australia Victoria which can be applied for addressing challenges
faced by Leda and her sister Jocasta.
Firstly, Dementia Australia’s counseling and support service can be utilized to address
symptoms of aggression in Leda and address challenges faced by Jocasta in providing care to her
elder sister. Counseling and support service is essential for the patient to help patient and their
family members to cope with daily challenges associated with dementia. As Leda had developed
signs of confusion, irritation and inability to converse in English language, counseling support
service is needed to help Leda make sense of her diagnosis and get the right support for coping
and living with dementia. Counseling session and talk therapy can also support patient with
dementia in using memory aid and reinforcement to eliminate feelings of confusion. Such kind
of support can improve cognitive, quality of life patient and health of caregiver (Orrell et al.,
2017). In addition, counseling and support is also necessary for family carers like Jocasta to help
her deal with feelings of stress and communication challenges while caring for dementia patient.
Systemtic counseling of family caregivers can help them to deal with disorientation, cognitive
deficits and mood swings in patient. This can improve emotional and physical health of family
caregiver and also reduce burden of care (Grossfeld-Schmitz et al. 2010). The advantage of
Dementia Australia Vic’s counsellors available at counseling and support service is that they are
professional trained staff who can provide right guidance both by telephone or in the home of
patients. Carers of patient can gain a lot from dementia counseling as the service will not only
reduce the stress level of Jocasta but also increase their knowledge regarding best assistance
services to take help for dementia care (Dementia.org.au., 2018).
Another Dementia Austrlia’s service that is suitable to address the challenges faced by
Leda and Jocasta includes the support group support. This is needed for Leda so daily activities

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of Leda such a toileting needs, need to take medication on time and communicating with others
can be addressed. Secondly, Jocasta is also in need of support group services so that her care
burden is reduced and she gets another professional person’s help to cope with aggressive
behavior of patient. Support group service like ‘Living with Dementia Program’ is a four to six
week information and support program where separate issues of patient and caregivers are
discussed. Memory Lane Café is also a beneficial service for people with dementia and their
family members as it provides them the opportunity to enjoy time with other dementia patient
along with some entertainment and refreshment. This would fulfill Jocasta’s wish to go out for
some refreshment and also provide her the opportunity to learn new coping skills by interaction
with other dementia care givers. It also provides many dementia education course where Jocasta
can learn the skills to interpret Leda’s message and communicate with her without any confusion
(Dementia Australia | Support Groups 2018). Dam et al. (2016) also argued that support group
intervention is necessary for informal caregivers as they are most likely to experience stress and
this kind of intervention can enhance subjective well-being of caregiver. In addition educational
intervention has the benefit of reducing caregiver burden, reducing symptom of depression in
dementia caregiver (Jensen et al. 2015).
As Jacosta is the only carer of Leda, she can also use Online Dementia Support services
provided by Dementia Australia Victoria to easily access information and support needed to
provide optimal care to patient. As she had been challenges many times because of aggressibe
behavior of Leda and her irritation while taking diabetes medication, she can effectively use this
service to acknowledge such times which increases stress level for her. It can provide range of
information and resources to Jacosta to improve her caring capability and dealing with
behavioral challenges of Leda. Another advantage of this service is that it provide video

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conference counseling too. Hence, Jacosta can easily contact dementia care professional from
home and discuss about the ways to overcome distress and provide the right support to patient. I
addition, it also has a forum for participating in online peer support community where she can
engage in one-to-one communication with experienced dementia care professiona. Blom et al.
(2015) explained that internet interventions for family carers of people with dementia are
promising opting to keep support accessible and affordable for family caregivers.
From the above evidence, it is understood that Dementia Australia is a competitive
organization in improving the lives of patient with dementia and their family members.
However, one patient need that cannot be specifically addressed by its services is toileting
needs of patient and managing symptom of urination due to diabetes in patient. Hence, to
provide assistance to Jacosta in helping her to urinate at the right place, it is necessary that
Jacosta approach nursing care services to get one dementia specialist nurse who could look after
toileting needs. Dementia specialized hospitals in Australia can be contacted so that a nurse or
other support staffs is available round the clock to address toileting and urinating problem of
Leda. They can help to set up a bathroom where it is easy for Leda to urinate and they also
observe when the patient is giving sign to urinate. As Leda get irritated, professional staffs can
calm patient and teach them to urinate at the right place. They can also help to provide adequate
clothing to patient (Griffiths et al., 2015).
The essay gave an insight into the issues faced by dementia patient and their family
givers by the analysis of issues found in the case study of Leda. By the identification of
challenges faced by Leda and her caregiver in dealing with dementia symptoms, Dementia
Australia services in Victoria was chosen to support them and address their issues faced in caring
for patient. Fromm the review of services, it is understood that counseling services and online

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education services are effective intervention to improve quality of life of dementia patient and
their care givers and increase the confidence of caregivers in taking the right step for optimal
health of dementia patient.

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