Full Description
Surviving Dementia Care is a compassionate and insightful guide for anyone navigating the challenging journey of caring for a loved one with dementia. Drawing on research from information studies, literary studies, and interviews with family caregivers, this book reimagines dementia care - not as a set of skills to master, but as a deeply human experience to endure and understand.
To make sense of the copious information on dementia, the book introduces four distinct modes of understanding dementia care, each offering a unique perspective and source of strength. The Describing mode helps caregivers grasp the medical realities of dementia. The Understanding mode addresses the shifting landscape of communication as cognitive abilities change. The Advocating mode guides readers through the complexities and anxieties of securing proper care within an often-confusing health care system. Finally, the Imagining mode reveals how creativity can foster moments of joy and connection, even in the midst of loss.
By filtering the vast array of information on dementia through these practical and empathetic modes, Surviving Dementia Care empowers caregivers to find the guidance they need at each stage of the journey, avoid information overload, and preserve the loving bonds that inspired their caregiving in the first place.
Contents
Preface: Turning Over the Placemat
Acknowledgments
Note on Participants
Part One: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introducing Dementia Care
Chapter 2: Introducing Modes
Part Two: Getting the Facts: The Describing Mode
Chapter 3: Labelling Dementia
Chapter 4: Classifying Dementia
Part Three: Following the Thread: The Understanding Mode
Chapter 5: Conversation
Chapter 6: Categories
Part Four: Taking a Stand: The Advocating Mode
Chapter 7: Facing Out
Chapter 8: Looking In
Part Five: Taking a Breath: The Imagining Mode
Chapter 9: Creative Surges
Chapter 10: Pleasure
Part Six: Closing the Distance
Chapter 11: A Sceptical Pause
Chapter 12: An Optimistic Conclusion
Epilogue: Learning from an Organist
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
