Although “there is a great fear out there about dementia, there are ways to improve the quality of life of patients with dementia,” according to Dr Elizabeth MacKinlay, director of The Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies at Charles Sturt University School of Theology. Late last week, the Federal Government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its report, Dementia in Australia: national data analysis and development, which shows the number of people with dementia is expected to increase to almost 465 000 by 2031.
”I’m not surprised at all about the numbers. We’ve known for quite some time that we would get increases of about 54 per cent in the prevalence of dementia within Australia,” said Dr MacKinlay.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom, there is a lot we can do but we need to get that message out. The latest research about communication skills shows we can help these people find meaning in their experience in life, even though they have significant dementia.”
Dr MacKinlay’s work is in spiritual reminiscence, a form of communication that acknowledges the person as a spiritual being and seeks to engage the person in a more meaningful and personal way. Her research has demonstrated that interactions in those with dementia are significantly increased following group work in spiritual reminiscence for a period of six months.
As well, the small groups help the patients bond and develop friendships in a way that is often otherwise difficult to nurture in aged care facilities. The interaction, communication and bonding all increased despite their cognitive skills further deteriorating over the six month period.
Dr Mackinlay said it is tragic that patents with significant dementia are often described as ‘a physical shell of a person’.
“There is still a person in there. They still need somebody who can actually be present for them and with them, who can give them the time to recover those words that can be so difficult to find.
“One person who was not speaking at all, who was rocking back and forth and seemed to be quite stressed, had a pastoral carer stay with her for some time. Eventually she said, ‘In this chair, in despair’. Now that was a person who was thought not able to speak. But how profound is that?
“That is the message we are trying to get out. We have to educate people. It’s a big job.”
Dr MacKinlay and her colleagues used their 2002-04 Linkage Grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) to research Finding meaning in the experience of dementia: The place of spiritual reminiscence work. From that grew the learning package, Facilitating spiritual reminiscence for older people with dementia, which was released late last year and is available to carers and others in the aged care industry.
“We looked at what would work and could be used by people anywhere in Australia; rural settings, small communities or in urban areas. We have already had a lot of feedback and the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Industry has been very supportive. So the word is getting out there.”
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