What is well-being? Dr. Al Power who authored “Dementia Beyond Disease- Enhancing Well-being” includes 7 components: Identity, Connectedness, Security, Autonomy, Meaning, Growth and Joy. If you assess the expressions (often referred to as behaviors but that is a negative description, so we will avoid that here whenever possible) of people with dementia- they are trying to communicate to the best of their abilities. They may not be able to access their previously extensive vocabulary and some of the brain changes likely means that how they interpret the sensory information from their environment is different than you and I do. We need to be better detectives to see/hear/feel the messages – because being understood is a basic human need.
Over the next few blog posts I’ll be exploring the categories of well-being and how to utilize each person’s retained abilities, skills and interests to ultimately creating and sharing joy whenever possible.
In the meantime- here is a link to the book for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/Dementia-Beyond-Disease-Enhancing-Well-Being/dp/1938870131
