Institutional Living for Dementia Patients (Essay Sample)

Institutional living for Dementia Patients
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Institutional living for Dementia Patients
Overview
Dementia is a problem that affects old age people who in most cases do not recognize it as a problem and live with it for a long period. The old age people should be given proper care so that when they die they rest peacefully. This problem affects a greater percentage of white (85%) as compared to the blacks about 9%. Knowledge about the various ways in which people with dementia can be successfully supported in the community assumes particular importance. Public attitudes towards care in the community for people with dementia are known to be less favorable than towards other community care groups. This paper accounts for the institutional living for dementia patients contrary to other care managements that can improve the outcomes for people with dementia. This is because a minority of people with dementia live in long-stay institutional settings where maintenance of quality life can be hazardous for people whose capacity to speak up for themselves may be diminished. Therefore, there is the need to increase the number of dementia patients into institutions that will fully support them through provision of better services. Qualified and dedicated staffs who understand the needs of the dementia patients provide these services. This study focuses on how to develop positive social environments for therapies and activities in institutions that care for these patients for improved quality of life. Similarly, this paper will focus on the devised ways through which institutions provide services to dementia patients.
Introduction
Thompson (2006) highlights that dementia is commonly confused to be a disease when, in fact, is because of a number of factors, which at times are reversible. This problem manifests itself to the majority of people starting from the age of sixty-five and above. This is because of aging, which is commonly characterized with the dysfunction of the limbic system that is responsible for the controlling emotions, controlling daily functions and connecting behavior with memories. However, there are salient features that must be verified for a condition to be referred to as dementia. These features do not have to be present for a diagnosis of the dementia patient to be effected. They include impairment of short-term and long-term memory, impairment of abstract thinking, impairment of judgment, disturbance of higher cortical function, personality change, specific organic factor and the absence of non-organic factor as a reason for the symptoms. Dementia is the loss of intellectual capacity to the extent that normal, occupational and social functions cannot be carried out Reber (1985). Therefore, it is a pathological condition affects cognition in old age. There are two major types of dementia namely reversible dementia and the irreversible dementia. The two types of dementia have distinguishing characteristics, which make them unique from one another. These two types of dementia all require that the affected groups be given special care.
Agenda for Dementia care
The concepts of adapted and experiential self clearly highlights the predicament that people who have dementia goes through. In most occasions, before any cognitive deficits became noticeable, there has been a loss in the adapted self. However, with the beginning of dementia the adapted self undergoes a further reduction largely because of the inability or unwillingness of other people to support existing roles Hunter (2009). As one ages, cognitive impairment advances, the experiential frame is also profoundly disturbed. Memory failures and judgments become evident. Desperate needs for comfort and security come to the surface. Similarly, hallucinations and isolation for such people is also common. With these tendencies and behaviors, most people in the society do not like to associate with these people. This calls for the need of dementia care to accommodate these patients. The main aim of dementia care is to maintain the personhood in the face of advancing impairment of cognition Hunter (2009). This is primarily to help in addressing the plight that people with dementia are facing. Different practitioners or caregivers provide dementia patient care. There are those practitioners who prefer to provide this care at home and those who prefer to provide this care in institutions. Each of these cares has its implications on the care that the dementia patient receives. As stated earlier, this paper will focus on institutional living for dementia patients.
Institutional care for dementia patients
Institutional care for dementia patients entails segregating these patients from their social setting or homes and putting them in one place for reasons of providing care to them. Admission into institutions is based on a number of factors like age, functional disability, dementia and absence of caregiver to the affected people. In these institutions, patients are given care based on a number of care models. Scholars devised these models with the aim of improving the lives of people within the institutions that provide care to them. These models include the medical models of care, the social models of care and the models of excess disability. Each of these models serves specific needs for people in different institutions. However, the most common model that is employed in different institutions is the social model, which provides long-term facilities. It entails the Eden alternative model and the gentle care model.
The Gentle-care social model
The proponent of the gentle-care model is Moyra Jones (1984). It is majorly used in the United States, Europe and Canada special care units. For example, in Canada-Ontario, Marycrest home for the Aged in Peterborough and Fairmount Home for the Aged in Kingston have adopted this model. This is because this model has an emphasis on communication and human values, uses physical restraints and minimal use of medication and focuses on people’s programs and the environment. In addition, the approach that this model has adopted whereby it is customer-service-oriented makes it to be cost effective. These attributes of this model lead to low incidences of aggression and challenging behavior among dementia patients and thus proving to be effective to be used in such organizations.
In relation to the institutions that have employed the use of this model, several positive implications have been realized in relation to the institutional living for dementia patients. The model has led to improved functional level; greater participation in self-care activities among clients improved communication, socialization among clients and patients and reduced wandering, and less agitation by the patients. Similarly, it has improved the participation and family comfort and accelerated the involvement of the community and volunteers within the organization. This has greatly influenced the performance on these institutions and hence making this model to be greatly used among institutions.
The Eden Alternative social model
In Europe, Canada and United States, institutional living for dementia patients with the aim of improving their livelihood has encompassed the Eden Alternative model, which is also, a social model. Dr. William Thomas (1991) introduced this model with the aim of changing the entire nursing home environment for dementia patients into one that is human and natural. This is because dementia patients were segregated and little care was provided to them while at their usual places of residence. Therefore, in order to reduce this boredom, Dr. William thought of this model as a therapy to help these patients. He introduced plants, children and pets into the nursing environment. The main goal was to promote a residential engagement to life by creating a stimulating environment that allows freedom of movement, promote a sense of belonging and help to foster the companionship with other animals and humans. This model has been used by several facilities in the named countries for treating dementia patients. It stresses that the provider of these services needs to be committed to addressing the loneliness, boredom and helplessness that can affect a dementia patient in a traditional nursing facility Deaton et al., (1999). The implication that this model has portrayed is of great significance to both the institutions offering the service and the dementia patients. This is because this model has significantly led to the reduction in levels of stress or depressions among the patients; reduced nursing assistant turnover increased staff satisfaction, and it has reduced the prescription rates among the dementias.
The implicat...