Stepping Out Blog

Dementia and its symptoms (Dementia Care)

‘Dementia’ is a term used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions.  It is an umbrella term used to describe the effects of closely linked diseases. These include Alzheimer’s disease and sometimes are the result of a stroke. Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse. How fast dementia progresses will depend on the individual. Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. There are approximately 750,000 people in the UK with dementia.

Symptoms and how we can help

Below are just some of the symptoms that our service will manage and seek to reduce where possible:

• Loss of memory − this particularly affects short-term memory, for example forgetting what happened earlier in the day, not being able to recall conversations, being repetitive or forgetting the way home from the shops. Long-term memory is usually still quite good.

Stepping Out home care service will offer the client targeted, well planned 1-1 support. In General the regular use of planning documents such as weekly activity plans, shopping lists, goal setting plans, timetables and visual image based tool will aid the client remember important tasks. Importantly the on-duty staff member should exercise patience and employ active listening techniques due to memory loss the client may feel anxious; insecure; frustrated and or embarrassed. Therefore our Stepping Out aims to offer a truly person centred service.  To be person-centred is be tuned into the emotions of a person and to understand how they are feeling and why. Factors which help with this are knowing about the person, their past – family, likes, dislikes, values etc. – as the better you know the person the more likely you are to be able to relate to them and understand their behaviours. Also essential is to be familiar with the person’s capability, This is important to Stepping Out and our staff members are regularly trained and supervised so that they can provide fulfilment by appropriately matching the complexity of activities to the ability and limitations or the client. For example, it would be inappropriate to give a crossword to a person who is experiencing severe memory difficulties; this may cause frustration and may induce an incident.

• Communication -The person with dementia will experience increasing problems understanding what is being said to them and what is going on around them. They are likely to find it difficult to communicate with other people. They may gradually lose their speech.

Stepping Out ensures its staff members receive regular training on effective communication; they are trained to be able to understand a client’s feelings via certain behaviour and or body language, eye contact and tone of voice. Our staff are trained to actively listen to clients whilst positioning themselves accordingly as to not cause any distress, tension or anxiety to the client. Visual tools and other interactive communication aids are to be used in order to ensure effective communication. Staff members must employ patience and always ensure they communicate with respect towards the client.

 Challenging Behaviour – The person with dementia may display puzzling and or at times challenging behaviour this may be in the form of physical aggression or verbal abuse.

Our staff members receive regular training on managing challenging behaviour. Importantly a client with dementia may display challenging behaviour due to feeling distressed, anxious and or frustrated. At such times, staff members must provide proactive, dedicated 1-1 support and use communication methods best suited to the client in order to alleviate the client’s anxieties. Our Company operates a no physical intervention policy. This means we will not physically restrain and or challenge a client. Therefore our staff must exhaust all means of calming and effectively communicating with the client. Other interventions may include new communication strategies, counselling, medical evaluation and treatment.

Contact us to find out how our homecare service and or our specialist semi-independent projects can aid those with Dementia.