A pioneering approach to dementia care based on the principle of engaging with dementia patients not just as the people they are in the present, but also as the people they were in the past, is currently being featured in the Dementiaville series of documentaries for Channel 4.
The approach, now being adopted by some care homes, is known as The Butterfly Household Model of Care. If someone is happier reliving their memories of the past, the idea is for carers to join them there and engage with those memories, rather than constantly trying to bring them back into the present.
It has been promoted energetically for the past 20 years by Dr David Sheard, one of series consultants, and founder of Dementia Care Matters.
In an interview with The Telegraph he explains,
"If you're a family member, you have two choices. Either all your time spent with them you're trying to force them to remember events, or you accept the person as they are, you accept that you can't fix them because of the brain damage, and you learn to love them in their new reality."
Founder of Dementia Care Matters
The value of this approach, he argues, can be seen in a dramatic improvement in the person’s sense of well-being, which in turn leads to improved life expectancy.
“You see people come alive” he says.
"They live almost twice as long with this type of care. With traditional dementia care, people go into lethargy, they go into shutdown. You become a non-person, you don't have a purpose, you're not doing anything with your day."
With the Butterfly Household Model of Care though... "You can measure people's wellbeing, and their wellbeing increases. You can see it in people's body language. You see people come alive."
The approach is controversial and goes against current mainstream training given to care professionals. And it’s not without its problems.
Dr Sheard readily acknowledges that patients have mistakenly thought younger visitors were their partners and dismissed their real husbands or wives, which can cause trauma for their families. Nothing, afterall, can take away the heartbreak for families as dementia changes the person they love forever.
That said, the compassionate person-centred approach to care featured in the documentary is both touching and inspiring.
And not surprisingly, the response on Twitter to the first of the 3 programmes in the series has been overwhelmingly positive.
To see this approach in action, catch up on the Channel 4 documentary, Dementiaville.
The first programme of Dementiaville was shown on Channel 4 last Thursday (4th June). This week’s programme will be broadcast at 9pm on Thursday 11th June and is entitled “Supporting families”
Full broadcast details can be found at Channel4.com http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dementiaville
For further information about the Butterfly Model of Household Care, Dr David Sheard, and his involvement in the making of Dementiaville, visit Dementia Care Matters http://www.dementiacarematters.com/
