3805 Health & Illness: Dementia Health Risks and Nursing Requirements

This report delves into the multifaceted nature of dementia, an umbrella term for cognitive decline in older adults, impacting memory, thinking, and daily functioning. It identifies key nursing requirements, including mobility enhancement, social engagement, mental stimulation, and assistance with daily activities. The report explores various risk factors, such as environmental exposures (nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, tobacco smoke, lead, and aluminum), ethnicity, and social isolation. Governmental factors like increased retirement age and inadequate healthcare insurance are also discussed. The assignment aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of dementia, focusing on health risks, nursing interventions, and the impact of social and governmental factors, as well as the importance of health promotion and support for caregivers.

DEMENTIA
Dementia is an umbrella term that refers to a decline in the
mental capacity that becomes severe enough, such that it
interferes with the daily functioning of older adults. It refers
to a group of signs and symptoms that lead to a decline in
memory and is incorrectly referred to as senile dementia or
senility (Livingston et al., 2017).
This syndrome has been recognised as a health risk owing to
the fact that it brings about a deterioration in cognitive
functioning. It generally affects thinking, memory, and
comprehension, orientation, learning capacity, calculation,
judgement and language in order adults (Van der Mussele et
al., 2015).
• During late stage of dementia, memory disturbances
become serious and the affected people find it difficult
to recognise acquaintances, demonstrate an increased
need for self-care, face difficulty during walking, and
also experience behavioural alterations such as,
aggression.
• The consequences are overwhelming, not only for the
affected people, but also the care givers and family
members. There is considerable lack of understanding
and awareness of dementia, thus leading to barriers and
stigmatisation to proper diagnosis and care.
Nurses provide intimate care to the patients by fostering an
effective therapeutic relationship in order to increase patient
outcomes. Some key nursing requirements are as follows:
• Increasing mobility by encouraging exercise
• Encouraging socialisation for combating loneliness
• Reassuring mental stimulation by assessing cognitive
functionality
• Promoting meaningful activity and cognitive stimulation
• Providing assistance to maintain independence and
conduct activities of daily living (Smythe, Jenkins, Galant-
Miecznikowska, Bentham & Oyebode, 2017)
• Offering support for carers and family members
• Preventing stigmatisation through health promotion
• Ensuring adequate patient nutrition and fluid intake
• Demonstrating appreciation and empathy towards to the
patients
• Increased amount of nitrogen oxide and
carbon monoxide are related with an
increased risk for dementia. Furthermore,
there exists a correlation between dementia
risk and environmental exposure to tobacco
smoke among older adults.
• While no definite link has been established
between the health disorder and arsenic,
people born in areas that have high lead
concentration or consumption of
aluminium in drinking water demonstrate
an increased likelihood of developing
dementia (Killin, Starr, Shiue & Russ,
2016).
• Some social factors that make people
susceptible to dementia development are
ethnicity and isolation. South Asian
individuals are more affected by the
disorder, compared to their European
counterparts. Similarly, people of African-
Caribbean descent develop it more often.
Social isolation that increases with an
increase in age also makes the older adults
more prone to suffer from dementia.
• Dementia is lowest amid population that
demonstrates healthy lifestyle behaviour
(Blakemore et al., 2018).
• Governmental factors that are related to
the disorder are increased retirement age
and lack of adequate healthcare insurance
for the elderly. The aforementioned two
factors result in stress that often trigger
the onset of anxiety and depression, both
of which have been identified to increase
the risk for developing dementia
HEALTH RISK
NURSING REQUIREMENT
FACTORS
Figure 1
Source- (Ellison, 2019)
Figure 2
Source- (Dementia Australia, 2019)

References
Blakemore, A., Kenning, C., Mirza, N., Daker-White, G., Panagioti, M., & Waheed, W. (2018). Dementia in UK
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://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020290
Dementia Australia. (2019). Designing a new future 2018-2023. https://
www.dementia.org.au/national/about-us/our-organisation/strategic-direction
Ellison, J.M. (2019). What Causes Dementia? https://www.brightfocus.org/alzheimers/article/what-causes-dementia
Killin, L. O., Starr, J. M., Shiue, I. J., & Russ, T. C. (2016). Environmental risk factors for dementia: a systematic
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