Arwin R. Covero
Odessa College
03/04/2015
Dementia
Dementia is an acquired condition that is characterized by a progressive deterioration of cognitive functioning and impairment of intellect without any changes in terms of consciousness. It can be described as a decline in person’s cognitive functioning such as loss of memory, attention to details, or thought processes. The progressive decline in brain function highly affect social and occupational functioning as well as their lifestyle and performance with activities of daily living. Most patients with this type of disorder will also exhibit some behavioral and psychological symptoms. It is the general term use to describe a variety of progressive conditions when brain cells die or no longer function. The most common type of dementia which account for 60% - 80% is Alzheimer’s disease. It is believed that the abnormal deposits of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that accumulate in the brain contribute to the deterioration of normal brain functions (Rogers, 2008). It is important for us to determine the difference between normal age-related forgetfulness and memory loss from Alzheimer’s disease or any other type of dementia. …show more content…
It is normal and common occurrence of the aging process to have slight memory loss or forgetfulness as long as it does not interfere with the person’s ability to perform its activities of daily living. Common example of memory loss due to aging process are, forgetting which day it is but remembering later, sometimes forgetting which word to use or misplacing car keys once in a while. However any type of severe memory loss such as losing track of the date or the season is neither consider a normal circumstances nor a part of age-associated memory loss. Old age doesn’t guarantee that a person will have dementia, there are many people living in their 80’s or even 90’s who still have good cognitive function which allow them to have an independent and active lives (Halter 2014). Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Quality of Life for Individuals with Dementia Interventions to yield with a desired outcome of increasing pleasant events and decreasing depressive symptoms. A randomized clinical trial on behavioral therapy intervention were randomly assigned to persons with dementia and depression disorder. The focus of the study is to help person with dementia develop strategies and abilities to engage themselves and increase involvement in enjoyable and meaningful activities. The intervention will assist the person identify ways and techniques on how to increase pleasant events to prevent depressive behavior. Another interventions is to provide a progressively lowered stress threshold intervention which focuses on identifying and providing activities that are appropriate for the individual’s current level of functioning (Logsdon, McCurry, & Teri, 2008). The ability of an individual …show more content…
Community-based interventions focuses on providing family caregivers education about the impact of dementia on maintaining ADL with regards to functional skills and behavior of an individual. Family caregiver were given training by occupational therapy resulted to an improve ADL for individuals with dementia. The outcome of the intervention improve the caregiver’s affect, increase feelings of competence and self-efficacy of which can improve the quality of life for individual with dementia. The importance of maintaining mobility and physical activity will help improve QOL of persons with dementia. Intervention involving individualized program such as physical exercise will help maintain mobility and physical activity. An intervention to maintain cognitive functioning will provide cognitive training strategies. Activities include specific memory training, general problem solving, and use of memory aids such as notebooks or calendars (Logsdon, McCurry, & Teri,