Dementia Care: Assessment, Intervention, and Evaluation

Running head: DEMENTIA CARE
Dementia Care
Name of student:
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1DEMENTIA CARE
Introduction
Dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder causing progressive decline in the mental and
cognitive function of the individual suffering from it. Research indicates that dementia’s fit with
the social model of disability implies that care for dementia patients goes beyond clinical
approaches. The hallmarks of person-centered care are approaches for addressing physical
dexterity, loss of recognition ability, and cognitive impairments. At the core of person centered
care lays the need of conducting an accurate assessment of the patient to understand his current
mental and physical health status. The rationale is that a whole-person approach is ideal since it
takes into consideration all ability, needs, preferences values and qualities of the individual. A
dialectical analysis is helpful in the process of providing dementia care since it helps in
clarifying the interventions adopted as per the best interests of the people. The present paper
constructs an assessment of a dementia patient using the dialectic model and discusses how one
area of need had been addressed. The patient considered for the assessment was Mrs. Jones who
had been diagnosed with dementia and struggling to cope up with it. The paper includes the
dialectics of dementia as applicable to the patient. One area of health need was identified through
thorough analysis. Literature review has been done to understand the effectiveness of
interventions applicable for the client. Implementation and evaluation of activities form the next
part of the paper. Implementation for practice and conclusion ends the paper in a systematic
manner.
Dialectic of dementia
The research of Kitwood indicates that diagnosis of dementia is linked with changes
physical and mental changes. Different factors that influence the persona of a dementia patient

2DEMENTIA CARE
are personality, biography, neurological impairment and social psychology (Manthorpe and Iliffe
2016).
Personality- Patients suffering dementia are often seen to undergo personality changes. Such
changes are a key feature of the disease and chances of undergoing such changes increases as the
diseases progresses (Terracciano et al. 2017). Mrs. Jones had a drastically different personality
previous to her diagnosis of dementia. She had been a social personal all her life. She was a
working woman who opines that she had a fulfilling career. This indicates that she had a healthy
relationship in the workplace, a feature that is a result of pleasing and warm personality.
Health status- Changes in health status of a dementia patient is linked with a number of other
factors such as physical exercise and mobility. The extent to which the patient is functional
influences the progress of the disease (Dewing and Dijk 2016). In the present case Mrs. Jones
had retired long back thus implying that she developed a sedentary lifestyle that progressed with
the passing years. Living alone also brought limited scope to carry out extensive activities in
daily lives. She also received limited support with the activities of daily living. All these factors
contributed considerably to the poor health status. The risk of fall is essentially linked with
impaired mobility as in case of Mrs. Jones. It is also noted she had suffered urinary tract
infection in the recent past along with previous history of chest infections. These two diseases
also have lead to poor health status.
Neurological impairment- Neurological impairments are due to decreased functionality of body
parts with passage of time. Such impairments usually develops over a considerable period of
time which be resisted under certain circumstances. For the case of Mrs. Jones it can clear that
the life events had a direct relation to her neurological impairment. She mentions that she has no

3DEMENTIA CARE
major role in her household after her retirement. This had been the situation for more than ten
years, a time frame adequate to increase the risk of poor neurological condition.
Social psychology- Social isolation and feelings of being lonely are associated with the higher
chances of decline in clinical dementia condition in later stages of life. Such social psychology
has been noted to be a major risk factor for depression, vascular diseases and other conditions.
Signs of depression are a signal to a prodromal stage of dementia. Vulnerable populations need
appropriate interventions to reduce depressive symptoms (Butcher et al. 2018). Mrs. Jones has
been living alone in her apartment with minimal visits from her only son. Due to decreased
mobility her social life is not noteworthy. It was clear from the patient assessment that feelings
of depression were a result of social isolation as she lacked contact with family members and
other members of the community. It is rightfully an objective state as her condition could be
measured by her statements.
Intervention delivered and evaluation
A thorough analysis of the condition of the patient brought into focus that the primary
patient health need was mobility and ability to perform daily activities of living in an
independent manner. Based on current knowledge of dementia care practices it was understood
that physical exercise therapy could act as the suitable intervention for Mrs. Jones.
Literature review of physical exercise therapy
Physical exercise therapy brings significant improvement in balance, strength, endurance
and mobility in patients suffering from dementia and cognitive impairment. A number of studies
have indicated physical exercise training is beneficial for improving the quality of life of
patients. Exercise training has been denoted to bring positive changes in physical as well as