Caring for a parent with dementia is rewarding but includes its own set of challenges. The dynamics of your relationship are bound to change as the condition progresses. To help maintain quality care for your loved one, your approach to care will have to adapt to accommodate the changes in your loved one.
Compassionate caring for your loved one includes:
- Adjusting your communication
- Creating a safe environment
- Becoming flexible
- Creating routine
- Asking for help
Understanding the Impact of Dementia
Dementia is a broad term used to describe a range of neurological conditions affecting the brain. This condition is marked by a decline in cognitive function, encompassing memory, reasoning, and language skills. While age normally causes a gradual loss of some thinking abilities, dementia is not a typical part of aging.
Over time, dementia can severely impact an individual’s memory, communication, behavior, decision-making skills, and relationships, all of which affect their activities of daily living.
Cognitive Decline
The cognitive decline associated with dementia doesn’t happen overnight. It starts subtly, often mistaken for normal aging. However, as dementia progresses, the signs become more evident.
Memory lapses turn into significant gaps, and the ability to process information deteriorates. This decline can lead to confusion, making it hard for your parent living with dementia to recognize familiar faces and places.
Physical & Emotional Impact
Beyond cognitive impairment, dementia can also affect physical and emotional well-being. Mobility issues, such as unsteady gait and difficulty coordinating movements, become more pronounced.
Emotionally, individuals may experience heightened anxiety, depression, or agitation.
Understanding the multifaceted impact on your parent’s well-being is important for appropriate caregiving.
Caregiving Tips
Changes in your loved one’s behavior, memory, communication, and decision-making skills will impact the way you should interact with them.
When caring for a loved one with dementia, it’s important to accept that what works today may not work tomorrow. The progressive nature of this disease means that your approach may need to be modified on a regular basis. This is normal.
Adjust the Way You Communicate
Dementia impacts an individual’s language skills and their ability to communicate. People with dementia may have trouble speaking or finding the right word. They may easily lose their train of thought, rely on gestures instead of their words, or speak less often.
Adjusting your approach to communicating with your loved one can help engage them in conversation. Some helpful tips include:
- Chatting face-to-face
- Asking simple questions
- Limiting distractions
- Practicing patience
As your loved one’s cognitive abilities change, so too must your way of communicating.
Speak slowly and clearly, using simple sentences. Ask simple questions to avoid confusion or frustration. Maintain eye contact, focus on nonverbal cues from your loved one, and be patient. It may take longer for your loved one to process what’s been said.
By creating a supportive environment, you can reduce anxiety and improve interactions.
Create a Safe Environment
Creating and maintaining a safe environment for your loved one becomes a growing concern as dementia progresses. With impaired balance and mobility, your loved one may be more prone to falls or risks associated with wandering.
To improve safety at home, try these simple modifications:
- Install handrails in areas like bathrooms and stairs.
- Remove tripping hazards like loose rugs and clutter.
- Consider slip-resistant shoes to reduce the risk of falls.
- Use non-slip flooring like carpet or non-slip vinyl to help prevent falls.
- Install motion-sensor lights in hallways, staircases, and bathrooms to increase visibility.
Practice Flexibility
Dementia can cause your loved one to display unpredictable behaviors and mood swings.
People living with dementia may experience good days where they’re calm, attentive, and feel like themselves. However, they may also have bad days where they feel agitated, irritated, and confused. Don’t be dismissive of these emotions.
Being flexible means adapting to their changing needs based on their cognitive abilities and being prepared for the emotional aspects of caregiving.
Develop a Routine
Creating a routine helps provide a structure that can be reassuring and calming for someone with dementia.
A daily plan can help reduce anxiety and agitation, support memory, and instill a sense of predictability. Regular wake-up times, mealtimes, activities, leisure time, and bedtime can greatly benefit you and your loved one.
However, remaining flexible and allowing space for spontaneous activities can help improve mood and maintain autonomy. Exploring new tasks and activities will help you determine what your loved one will respond well to.
As dementia progresses and changes, stay mindful of your parent’s mood and response to certain activities. Consider allowing them to rest or change the activity if they seem frustrated or bored.
Ask For Help
Caregiving is not a solo endeavor. Seek help from your friends, family, professionals, or community to help alleviate the stress that comes with taking care of your loved one.
Remember to take care of yourself, too. Too much stress can cause physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that may lead to irritability or even resentment towards the person you’re caring for. Caregiver burnout can have serious repercussions for your own well-being and the ability to provide quality care for your loved one.
Respite care offers short-term temporary care for families to help give caregivers a break, reduce stress, and prevent burnout.
Memory care offers specialized long-term care designed for individuals experiencing various types of memory-related issues such as dementia. These communities provide 24-hour support services from staff specially trained to care for individuals experiencing cognitive decline. Memory care can help maintain quality of life and offer support that may be difficult to provide at home.
In addition to a safe environment for residents, memory care provides specialized therapies, art, music, and activities that are designed to stimulate cognitive function. These communities help promote and encourage socialization between residents providing emotional and cognitive benefits.
Schedule a Tour
Memory care helps provide quality care for loved ones living with dementia. Understanding the impact of dementia includes recognizing that accessing professional help is a vital aspect of caregiving.
Connect with our team at Dogwood Forest of Grayson to schedule a tour of our memory care community to learn how we can help with your caregiving journey.