The essential guide to the human brain for person-centred dementia care practitioners

This series constitutes a set of accessible, jargon-free, evidence-based good practice guides for all those involved in the care of people with dementia and their families.

The series draws together a range of evidence including the experience of people with dementia and their families, practice wisdom, and research and scholarship to promote quality of life and quality of care.

A working knowledge of the human brain, and of how changes to the brain can affect behaviour, are essential for all those caring for individuals with dementia.

This concise, plain-English guide covers everything that dementia care practitioners need to know.

Drawing on the latest research from neuroscience, the author describes the damage and disruption that occurs in the brain as the various forms of dementia progress, and the effect of those changes on behaviour, vision and perception, cognition and memory, spatial awareness and executive function, and in causing hallucinations and delusions.

Relating these changes to practice issues, she suggests strategies for providing individualised and appropriate support through each stage. She describes how to identify and nurture retained abilities such as communication and relationship-building, and how to build up a personal profile of the cognitive strengths of each individual to inform more empathetic care.

The theory is presented in an accessible and easy-to-digest format, and accompanied by many practical examples and clear, annotated illustrations.

This user-friendly and accessible guide is essential reading for dementia care practitioners and their managers, other health and social care practitioners, students and relatives of those with the diagnosis.