Activities which provide the client with opportunities for autonomy and promote independence
Activities which provide meaning and purpose as well as promote independence for each aspect of life:
Domestic life: baking, preparing morning tea, setting tables, clearing and wiping tables, washing dishes, folding washing and dusting.
Outdoor life: walking, raking the leaves, sweeping up, gardening, feeding chickens or pets, small repair jobs, doing woodwork in an outdoor shed.
Social life: shopping, outings like visiting a park, going to the beach, seeing a film, attending a concert, games and exercise.
Artistic life: painting and drawing, crafts like knitting, crocheting, decorating …show more content…
The key worker provides information, support, counselling, advice and helps consumers effectively engage with services appropriate to their individual needs. This program ensures that the needs of people with younger onset dementia are being met in the community by increasing awareness and education, building capacity in the disability, aged care, community and residential care sectors and improving coordination of services across agencies. Key workers identify and address gaps in services and build capacity through consultation, networking and collaboration with service providers and consumers.
Support Groups
• Support Groups give you an opportunity to meet with others in a similar situation to share experiences, learn new ideas and skills for living with dementia and engaging in mutual problem solving.
The Better Life Program
• This is a personal coaching program that aims to increase an individual’s ability to improve their wellbeing and quality of life. The Better Life program can empower people to enhance self-care skills, improve optimism and resilience and achieve short and longer term health and wellbeing …show more content…
There can be a significant impact of the family and friends of a person diagnosed with dementia, especially the carer. The added stress and pressure of caring for the person with dementia brings with it a whirlwind of emotions, particularly has the disease progresses.
A common feeling is frustration and anger. Angry at having to be a caregiver, angry with others who do not seem to be helping out, angry at the person with dementia for their difficult behaviours and angry at support services.
Another emotion expressed is grief. Grief is a response to loss. If someone close develops dementia, they are faced with the loss of the person they used to know and the loss of a relationship. People caring for partners may experience grief at the loss of the future that they had planned to share together.
It is quite common to feel guilty. Guilty for the way the person with dementia was treated in the past, guilty at feeling embarrassed by their odd behaviour, guilty for lost tempers or guilty for not wanting the responsibility of caring for a person with dementia. If the person with dementia goes into hospital or residential care you may feel guilty that you have not kept the person at home for longer, even though everything that could be done has been