Centre for Policy on Ageing



Aspects of spirituality in dementia care — when clinicians tune into silence
Author(s)	Robert M Lawrence
Journal title	Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 2, no 3, October 2003
Pages	pp 393-402
Keywords	Dementia ; Spiritual characteristics [elderly] ; Communication ; Clinical psychologists.
Annotation	Clinicians dealing with people with dementia are usually unable to maintain communication with the individual beyond the available psychometric tests that only give a crude evaluation of the person's capacity to express thoughts and feelings. Evidence from older people with terminal illness and functional psychiatric illness shows that the individual tends to "journey" back to reassuring and positive experiences, and that religious matters are of paramount importance in dealing with terminal illness and death. Normal communication channels are precluded for individuals with dementia, as they gradually lose the ability to use understandable speech. The clinician may partly circumvent loss of communication by gathering a holistic and comprehensive view of the person's spiritual background at the very outset, and by incorporating the holistic view into the care plan. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-031001207 A
Classmark	EA: EX: U: QT9A
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.