Rachael Wonderlin - Creative Engagement

Creative Engagement

A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book

A HANDBOOK OF ACTIVITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

Rachael Wonderlin

With Geri M. Lotze, PhD

Note to the Reader: This book is not meant to substitute for medical care, and treatment should not be based solely on its contents. Instead, treatment must be developed in a dialogue between the individual and his or her physician. This book has been written to help with that dialogue.

2020 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2020

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wonderlin, Rachael, 1989 author.

Title: Creative engagement : a handbook of activities for people with dementia / Rachael Wonderlin. With Geri M. Lotze, PhD.

Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. | Series: A Johns Hopkins Press health book | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019023261 | ISBN 9781421437279 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781421437286 (paperback) | ISBN 9781421437293 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: DementiaPatientsCare. | DementiaPatientsRecreation. | DementiaPatientsRehabilitation. | Adult day care centersActivity programs.

Classification: LCC RC521 .W628 2020 | DDC 616.8/31dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023261

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For David, for all your love and support

Creative Engagement

When we talk about dementia-friendly environments or activities, we are talking about items that meet the physical and emotional needs of adults living with dementia. One of my main goals when creating dementia-friendly activities is to offer ways to engage adults with dementia that is fun and challenging but not childish. We want to be able to live in the world of the person with dementia rather than trying to drag them into ours.

The goal of this book is to provide ideas for activities that you can do with your loved one or resident who has dementia. As I wrote this, I kept in mind activity directors, recreation therapists, families, professional caregivers, dementia care directors, and more. I have worked in a number of different care communities, and I have always noticed the same thing: activities are the lifeblood of a dementia care environment. The community can be beautiful, clean, and full of residents, but when those residents have nothing to do, the environment is severely lacking. Bored residents are unhappy residents. Bored residents will also fall more often, get into more arguments, become depressed, eat less, and overall enjoy life less. The happiest communities that I have seen are ones that have full, engaging activity calendars. The staff is happier, the residents are happier, and the residents families are happier.

Creative engagement is one of the organizing principles that caregivers need to keep in mind when planning activities for someone with dementia. Although it is a clich that every person is different, its important to remember that dementia is different in every person .

The same concept works at home. Just because someone with dementia lives at home does not mean that they are inherently happier than someone who lives in a care community. I have often heard caregiver children say that the reason they do not want to move their parent into a care community is because their parent loves being at home. While Mom or Dad may love home, if they have nothing to do there, they will become just as depressed and bored as someone who lives in a boring care community.

In many of the chapters that follow I offer activities for those in a community setting as well as those at home. I recommend reading both sections, even if your loved one lives at home and wont be moving or even if you work in senior housing and dont intend on switching to home care. I share stories from both sides of the aisle because that may help you when creating a new activity or if you do eventually consider relocating a loved one.

There is much research looking at best practices for caring for a loved one with dementia. Scholars in the fields of psychology, social work, gerontology, nursing, occupational therapy, and even environmental gerontology have researched quality care and activities. So while I speak from experience, I am grateful that the scientific community is helping us all develop a greater understanding of what works, and sometimes what does not work, in caring for persons living with dementia from all walks of life. When relevant, I cite these sources as well.

Daily engagement is much more than just a nice activity calendar and a good activity staff. Its about the lifestyle that you offer inside of your house or at a senior living community. From morning to night, adults with dementia should be offered a life that is interesting, fun, and similar to the one that they always lived. No one wants to feel as though their life is unimportant or inconsequential. It is our job, as caregivers, to provide people with dementia with an opportunity to continue living a life worth living.

Before we begin talking about activities for people with dementia, we need to first review what dementia is. While many people work with loved ones or clients who have dementia, they may not necessarily be able to describe what the term dementia actually means. Dementia is a group of symptoms that can be caused by many diseases and causes cognitive loss over time (Mace & Rabins, 2017). This can be a confusing definition: what does cognitive loss over time mean? Isnt dementia just another form of Alzheimer disease? No, and heres how I often explain it: when I describe dementia, I talk about it the way we talk about cancer. For example, if you were to go to the doctor and the doctor told you that you had cancer, you wouldnt say, Okay, thanks, and then leave. You would probably ask, What type of cancer is it? This likewise applies when a doctor says your loved one has dementia. You should ask the doctor, What form of dementia is it? Unfortunately, most people leave the physicians office with more questions than they went in with. They do not know to ask about the cause of the dementia, assume it means something to do with memory loss, and head out the door.

Dementia is an umbrella term (), much like cancer is an umbrella term. There are more than seventy different causes of dementia. I have had people say things to me like I know what Alzheimers is, but what is dementia? They assume because the two words are often used in the same sentence that they are different things. But just as cancer is the umbrella term and breast cancer is the specific type of cancer, so dementia is the umbrella term, and Alzheimer disease is the specific cause or form of dementia.