Book Reviews

We continue to add books to this section. If there is a particular book you would like to see included, let us know at info@mycarematters.org.

Reducing the Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias

A Guide to Personal Cognitive Rehabilitation Techniques   (JKP Press 2019)

By Jackie Pool

The culmination of a life’s work, this book is full of advice to help you or your loved ones manage the wide-ranging symptoms of dementia, with practical information, clear explanations and innovative solutions to a huge variety of dementia-related issues. Jackie Pool has almost forty years’ experience in this field and was keen to share her knowledge and research with anyone facing a diagnosis, offering support and guidance and dispelling the many myths that surround the condition.

This book appealed to me not only because I know and admire Jackie Pool, but because she has clearly put so much of herself into its pages. It is far more than just a self-help reference book, at times it’s a deeply personal and autobiographical account of her own experiences in dementia care. Jackie skilfully guides us through the minefields of psychological theory and scientific research to ensure we are empowered in our understanding of the disease and therefore able to approach the symptoms with greater creativity, hope and positivity.

 

If we understand the changes happening in our brains, or those of our loved ones, then we are far less likely to feel anxious and vulnerable, knowledge is power. Jackie draws on many personal examples to shine a light on a huge number of topics from maximising sleep quality, to improving communication, understanding the role of prescription drugs, maintaining personal care, and exploring the different types of memory.

Using the latest cognitive rehabilitation techniques Jackie explains how our brains have the capacity to ‘re-learn’ old skills and master new ones, ‘bypassing’ the damage using a process called ‘Rementia’, a term originally coined by the late, great, Tom Kitwood. It is fascinating to read about Jackie’s eight-year dialogue with Professor Kitwood via a series of letters she initiated due to her concern that the more holistic ‘social’ approach mustn’t be at the expense of maintaining and enhancing cognitive function.

As a skilled occupational therapist, Jackie has always understood that the key to living well with dementia is to be given the tools necessary to keep active, engaged and as independent as possible rather than become prematurely de-skilled or ‘dis-abled’ by relinquishing too much and having everything done for you. The writer, Wendy Mitchell, has often said that if she lived with a partner, she would have struggled to have maintained the independent skills she still enjoys. We are all guilty of ‘doing’ too much for someone we care for simply because we feel we ought to, its quicker or feels safer to do so, when actually giving someone the tools to, for example, make their own cup of tea or dress themselves, is of far greater benefit both physically and emotionally.

Jackie is not afraid to broach some complex topics in this book including neuroplasticity, delirium, cognition and the science of nutrition, but in all these areas we are invited to simply take as much information as we need to further our own understanding with plenty of pointers to extend our reading and helpful infographics to make the content even more accessible. The latter part of the book provides some useful templates for making daily plans and aspirational targets including examples from Jackie’s own PAL (Pool Activity Level) instrument.

Throughout this book, Jackie never loses her conversational style, it succeeds in being an informative companion guide and one I would hugely recommend for anyone living with dementia or supporting others to live as well as they can with the condition.

By Anna C. Park

 

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Dementia, Sex and Wellbeing

by Danuta Lipinska

Danuta has over 30 years experience supporting families, teaching, counselling and consulting on adult sexuality and dementia care. In this guide she brings her wealth of knowledge and insight to the fore, helping us to understand the cognitive impact of a dementia diagnosis on intimacy and relationships, and reminding us that our sexual identities and needs remain an integral part of who we are.

Her friendly conversational style makes this an incredibly enjoyable read as she expertly draws on her life’s work to aid our understanding of sexual behaviours as simply responses to a need for sensuality and intimacy rather than a ‘problem’ to be managed. The key message that our body and brain are one and ‘we separate them at our peril’ is central to this understanding. All our experiences, feelings, intimate moments and dreams are remembered by our bodies as much as our brains – therefore a dementia diagnosis does not mean a loss of physical knowledge and memory. A person can still consent to sexual intimacy without needing to know what day of the week it is because they still ‘know’ their husband and remember how it feels to be with them.

This is an illuminating read which embraces science, philosophy, psychotherapy and spirituality to help us to be more inclusive and self-aware in our conversations around sex and intimacy. After each chapter there are ‘Points for Reflection’ to guide discussions and chart shifts in our own understanding and responses. It highlights a real need for openness around sexuality and identity, someone may well reveal their true sexual self, following a move into care, after years of enforced repression. As Sally Knocker says in her Afterword: ‘It is rare to read a book where you feel that you have been in a very deep and meaningful conversation with its author…I love the fact that this is not about people living with dementia as somehow different or separate, it is a book about all of us and what it means to be vibrant sexual and sensual beings.’

Reviewed by Anna C. Park. Published by and available from Jessica Kingsley Publishers

 

Dear Life

by Rachel Clarke

Palliative medicine is Dr Clarke’s second career; her first as a journalist gave her the skills to evoke the kindness, joy and tenderness seen every day in a hospice, where death should dominate yet it is love and life itself that take centre stage.

Described as a love letter – to her GP father dying of cancer, to a profession where Dr Clarke helps people live the end of their lives as fully and richly as possible, to life itself – this is a beautifully written story of love and loss, invoking laughter and tears in equal parts.

Published Jan 30th 2020. Available from Amazon.

 

Watching the Leaves Dance

by Graham StokesWatching the Leaves Dance

As Keith Oliver writes in his Foreword, “Watching the Leaves Dance takes us once again, not into the realm of patients, carers or service users but into the lives of people…”. People, not their dementia, are again at the heart of this next volume of stories by Graham Stokes. People with histories, childhood experiences, family influences, all of which make us the person we become… and who we remain, even if dementia claims us. As Professor Stokes says, ‘dementia care does not exist. Instead, we must accept that we care for people with dementia.”
Professor Stokes has often had to look deep into peoples’ pasts to find the clues to their current behaviour, behaviour that may have been causing significant distress to themselves and those around them. Within each of these eighteen stories there are valuable insights wrapped in humanity: Cathy and Jimmy for example, teach us that good care is not measured by flawless appearances, we learn from Maria to be alert to the potential risks of reminiscence therapy, from Gillian and Spencer that dementia has no bearing on our need for closeness, touch and affection, and from Suzy to check the bus timetable before attempting to impose culture change in a care home. This book has something to say to anyone with even the loosest connections to dementia, and that, after all, is most of us. Be prepared to shed tears.
Published by and available from Hawker Publications Ltd.

Caregiver Carols: A Musical, Emotional Memoir

Caregiver Carols snipby Dr Don Wendorf

Dr Wendorf brings his combined experiences of phsychologist and psychotherapist, musician and caregiver to his wife of 40 years in this moving, informative, creative and practical memoir. Searingly honest at times, the author is prepared to tackle the toughest aspects of being a caregiver: guilt (a ‘good, normal, healthy emotion’), the ongoing sense of bereavement (‘I’ve been in denial about being in mourning’), how to accept help (‘don’t deny other loving people the blessing of being able to serve, comfort, support, help, care for, love and give to you’) and perhaps the toughest one of all, the impact illness can have on a couple’s intimate relationship.

The author blends a mix of song lyric rhyming verses with accompanying prose commentaries to make it easier, more effective and more memorable to get his messages across than the ‘standard didactic approach’. In describing his own emotional struggles as a caregiver, Dr Wendorf hopes to encourage other caregivers that their own feelings are tough but normal and manageable and that they are not alone.

Dementia: The One-Stop Guide

by June AndrewsDementia by June Andrews

I’ve had the privilege of hearing Professor June Andrews present at a number of conferences and have always enjoyed her unique mix of down-to-earth practical approach to dementia care and refreshing sense of humour, so I was delighted to see the same attributes appear on the pages of this invaluable book.

Advertised as ‘practical advice for families, professionals, and people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease’, one might think it a little ambitious, attempting to be all things to all people, but I would defy anyone in those groups mentioned to read it and say they learned nothing. No subject is taboo, there’s lots of myth-busting and advice on how to negotiate a system which, the author acknowledges, all too often lets people down, plus comments from carers, professionals and those living with varying forms of dementia. If you’re looking for a jargon-free easy read, packed with practical information for anyone dealing with dementia in the UK and flashes of good humour to lighten the message, this is the book for you.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s

by Greg O’BrienOn Pluto front cover

Journalist Greg O’Brien writes powerfully about his ten year journey – so far – with Alzheimer’s. There are a number of laugh out loud moments as he paints a vivid picture of his daily struggles to find coping mechanisms and strategies to circumvent the disease that is determined to trip him up, and which will, he knows, eventually send him to Pluto, his allegory for the end stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. On every page O’Brien demonstrates how he is living with dementia, not dying from it.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

 

The Things Between Us – Living Words: Anthology 1

Living Words cover“Like dipping into a basin of water, and trying to hold the droplets in your hands as you splash your face with pure joy”. So says the late Lynda Bellingham in her resounding endorsement of this wonderful anthology of poems and words, collected from people living with dementia.

The charity Living Words has worked with people with dementia since 2007. As Founder and Artistic Director Susanna Howard says, when a person hears their words read back to them their sense of well-being and personhood is elevated…

Click here to purchase from Living Words

Dancing with Dementia

by Christine BrydenDancing with Dementia web

Author Christine Bryden continues to lead an active life and in May 2015 it will be an incredible 20 years since her diagnosis of dementia.

Christine was a top civil servant and single mother of three children when she received her diagnosis at the age of 46. ‘Dancing with Dementia’ is a vivid account of how she dealt with that life-changing news, exploring the effects of memory problems, loss of independence, difficulties in communication and the exhaustion of coping with simple tasks. She describes how, with the support of her husband Paul, she continues to lead an active life despite her dementia and explains how professionals and carers can help.

Click here for further information and ways to purchase.

 

 

Person-centred Dementia Care. Making services Better.

by Dawn BrookerPerson-centred dementia care

This was the first book I read about dementia care when my husband had to move to a care home in 2009 with advanced dementia and complex needs, and its value and relevance for anyone involved in providing care shone out immediately. Refreshingly honest and down-to-earth, Professor Brooker questions whether all providers who claim to offer person-centred care truly reflect the values that should lie behind this overused and misused term. She describes her book as an attempt to articulate the different elements of person-centred care and to describe what these look like in practice.

Frequently referring to Tom Kitwood as her inspiration, Dawn Brooker  explains the four key elements of person centred care that comprise the VIPS model: Valuing people with dementia and those who care for them (V); treating people as Individuals (I); looking at the world from the Perspective of the person with dementia (P); and a positive Social environment in which the person living with dementia can experience relative well being (S).

With an emphasis on practical application, Person Centred Dementia Care provides care organisations with clear, accessible guidelines on how to put the VIPS model into operation for effective care that is `fit for VIPs’. Part 2 of the book comprises the VIPS organisational reflection tool, which care providers can use to assess how well they think they are doing at providing person-centred care.

Click here for further information and to purchase.

 

The Bright Side / The Other Side

by Kate GrangerThe Bright Side Kate GrangerThe Other Side Kate Granger

Most people reading this will have heard of Dr Kate Granger, and of her struggle to live as normal a life as possible under the shadow of a terminal cancer diagnosis. As famous as the doctor herself is her inspirational ‘#HelloMyNameIs…’ campaign to encourage all health care staff to introduce themselves to their patients before delivering care. As Kate says on her website, introducing oneself is much more than just providing a name: it is making a human connection, beginning a therapeutic relationship, building trust.

Kate’s first book, ‘The Other Side’ is riddled with technical terms and medical-speak, making it quite clear which audience she wants to reach. Self-published, with all profits going to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre and orders being handled by Kate and her husband Chris so as to maximise the revenue for YCC, it reflects very much the author as she describes herself: ‘slightly bossy, competent but compassionate’ and no sign of the person she fears some will see her as: ‘that poor girl dying of cancer’. For us lay people, Kate has thoughtfully provides a glossary of terms, but one doesn’t need to understand the jargon to get the message. This is a doctor telling it how it is on the other side. Or, to put it another way, this is a patient with medical knowledge describing the progression of her illness, details of her treatment, and making it quite clear what worked and what didn’t in the huge variety of approaches and attitudes she experienced from her professional colleagues.

I read both books from cover to cover with barely a break, hauled in trepidation along Kate’s journey with a mixture of emotions, feeling her frustration when the medics got it wrong, delighting with her when she experienced compassionate, kind and intelligent care, reduced to tears when she, rarely, appears overwhelmed by pain and the desperate nature of her situation.

Being able to return to work allowed Kate to put into practice the things she had learned as a patient: proper communication – finding the right balance to avoid being patronising or confusing; getting the little things right such as getting on the same level as your patient when talking to them; remembering that you are treating a human being and not just a medical condition. It is clear from reviews and from Kate’s own comments that doctors and other healthcare staff have also adjusted their behaviour as a result of reading Kate’s books. I’d say they need to be on the compulsory reading list of every single healthcare professional.

This link will take you to Kate’s website where her books are available for purchase.

And Still the Music Plays. Stories of People with Dementia

by Graham Stokesand still the music plays web

Dr Graham Stokes has written a number of books on the subject of dementia care, but this is no ordinary instruction manual. Instead, the author recounts 22 compelling stories of people with dementia and looks beyond the obvious in an attempt to explain why some behave in the way they do.

You will read about Mr Abrahams who came alive when touched by human contact, how a window into Mrs S’s world opened when staff came to understand her aversion to shared toilets, and how Lucy’s quality of life was transformed when it was discovered what caused her to shout for hour after hour.

The central theme is that everyone is unique, and it is only by thinking deeply about each person individually that we can give the best possible care.

Click here for further information and to purchase.

 

Dear Dementia: The laughter and the tears

by Ian Donaghydear dementia web

As author Ian Donaghy says, “Dementia is an uninvited guest. It does not discriminate and is often merciless… but there is still laughter to be heard.” These short letters and over 100 illustrations, with their simple yet powerful messages, provide many opportunities for people to laugh and to cry, to learn and to ponder.  They are based on Ian’s own experiences and conversations with people living with dementia and their friends and family, including children.

This is a delightful book which has at its core a heartfelt plea that we focus on the person and not the dementia.

Click here for further information and to purchase.


Sport: have we forgotten it?

Sporting Memories

by Emma Harris

We’ve all experienced that feeling when our muscles remember how to do something we thought our minds had forgotten, perhaps riding a bike or swinging a tennis racket. We may assume that an individual with dementia soon loses access to these memories along with names, places or facts, but our motor memories (or muscle memories) are actually amongst the last parts of our brains to be affected by dementia. This means that an individual may still be able to recall movements stored long ago in their muscle memories. Lisa Krieger of Mercury News tells the story of Jim Byerlee, an 84-year-old living with dementia, who was taken to play golf by his care home staff. Jim was able to swing a golf club with all the accomplishment of a retired athlete.

The Sporting Memories Foundation
Intergenerational reminiscence with The Sporting Memories Foundation

Like Jim, everyone has been touched by sport in some way, whether playing it, watching it, on TV or attending live events. As Tony Jameson-Allen, co-founder and director of The Sporting Memories Foundation, says ‘You don’t have a choice, everyone has memories of sport’. Sporting Memories advocate the importance of sport, not only to keep older people active, but as a way to encourage positive emotions and a sense of community through reminiscence. They work with care homes, libraries and other communities to organise groups sessions at which older people can discuss their own experiences of sport. Sporting Memories provides resources and training to staff to help them trigger memories and draw on the positive emotional impact sport can have. As Jameson-Allen explains, ‘one of the best ways to spark memories is other people’s memories’; they focus on the strengths of people with dementia: their long-term memories.

Sporting Memories discovered that talking about sport motivated participants to be active, and now organises reminiscence sessions followed by physical activities, including walking, football and curling. Joyce, a 96-year-old erstwhile ice dancer, is one such motivated person. She was taken to an ice rink by a member of her care home staff and, by using an adaptive frame, was able to experience all the sensations of being on the ice again.

Physical movement can play a vital role in improving the quality of life of an individual with dementia. It encourages physical and mental stimulation, can prevent depression and assists with sleep. Many organisations have discovered the power of active care and the numerous ways it can be tailored for all ages and abilities.

Table tennis for dementia
The BAT Foundation offers a ‘drug-free’ therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease.

The Bat Foundation describes exercise, or more specifically table tennis, as a ‘drug free Alzheimer’s therapy’. As part of their research, a team of neurologists took MRI scans to compare the brains of people with dementia who play table tennis and those who don’t. The scans revealed that certain parts of the brain light up dramatically in those who had just played table tennis; the concentration and co-ordination required to play the game stimulates the hippocampus and can delay cognitive decline. As a result, they have designed a table tennis table specifically for people with dementia, using colour contrasts to aid sight and side panels to assist with play. Annie Ingram, a voracious player, comments, ‘I can do this, I’m loving it!’.

Another sport which appeals to all ages is swimming and is known to have a positive impact on people with dementia, particularly because water offers a feeling of being weightless, thereby relaxing the body. But a public pool may be a daunting environment for someone with dementia and their carer. The Dementia Friendly Swimming Project aims to make swimming pools a safe and welcoming environment for people with dementia. They work across the UK, creating a network of dementia-friendly pools by producing guidance and offering training to swimming staff to achieve this aim.

Dance, on the other hand, is an activity which can be brought directly into the care home. Alive!, based in Bristol, offer dance and movement sessions which focus on the potential this activity has to help older people express themselves when they are no longer able to fully communicate their feelings; it’s about using dance to interact with individuals through rhythm and music. Alive! also offer training programmes to staff to help them bring active care into their own care homes, and run ‘Active Care Forums’ across the South of England for anyone working with older people. Becoming a member of a forum is a great way to pool new ideas and share experiences, whilst also gaining access to training, support and resources on active care.

JABADAO is a somewhat more unusual organisation. SPAGOG, Seriously Playful Armchair Games for the Old and Gorgeous, is a league event which uses basic movements and games with the simple aim of making life better. This is how it works: JABADAO teach the games to carers to play with their residents, the carers return the scores to the organisation, and results are published online weekly so care homes, friends & family can see which team is leading. Two finalist teams play against each other for the famous SPAGOG cup. JABADAO specialise in creating activities for people in late stages of dementia, and offer training for carers to improve the non-verbal communications of these individuals. Contact JABADAO if you’d like organise a competition in your area.

All of the above organisations, and more – see links below – offer the opportunity not only to maintain or increase physical fitness, but to become part of a community and interact with others through a medium other than speech. As Tony Jameson-Allen says, ‘it’s about friendship and keeping people supported just as much as it is about sport itself’. When words are a struggle, it can be the things which do not require any words at all that can offer us the most support.

Resources:

The Bat Foundation
Deliver specialised table tennis Alzheimer’s therapy programme

Dementia-Friendly Swimming
Organisation working to make swimming pools across the UK welcoming for people with dementia

The Sporting Memories Foundation
Work with communities to organise group sessions to discuss sport

Dance and Dementia
Offer dance sessions to individuals or groups

Alzheimer’s Society: Exercise in the early to middle stages
Advice from the Alzheimer’s Society on exercise for those in early to middle stages of dementia

Alzheimer’s Society: Exercise in the later stages
Advice for those in later stages of dementia

Association for Dance Movement Pschotherapy UK
Resource to find dance movement therapist for individual or groups

Getting to know each other

Carer's Chart

We’re always going on about the importance of needing to know about a resident’s needs and preferences, but what about your staff? Might they like to share what they like and dislike, and might they learn something from the exercise as well?

Encourage your staff to share what matters to them by completing one of these free charts. With everyone’s agreement, display them where other staff, residents and their families can see them, creating an opportunity to appreciate what is important to each other. Generate a sense of mutual respect throughout your community, and create opportunities for meaningful interaction between every member of that community.

If you are using our Care Charts for your residents you will see that we have used the same symbols* as those on the resident’s charts. This helps make the point that we are all similar in having needs and preferences, that whether we are a carer or someone being cared for, we all have things in our lives that can cause pleasure or distress.

Download as many copies of the Carers Chart A4 as you need, encourage your staff to share, and develop the relationship and mutual respect between staff and residents and their families. Indeed, it may be appropriate to invite family members to participate as well.

And if you’re not already using our Care Charts for your residents, give us a call now, on 01403 210485, or email enquiries@carechartsuk.co.uk for further information.

*If you are using Style 2 and would like a Carer’s Chart in the same style please send us a request via email to enquiries@carechartsuk.co.uk.

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