Most people find some satisfaction when a goal of some type, even a small one, is achieved. Why should people with Alzheimer’s feel differently?
According to an article on Medical News Today titled, “Achieving Goals Empowers People with Dementia,” researchers at Bangor University, Wales found that “people who received cognitive rehabilitation felt their performance of daily activities improved. Carers (caregivers) of those receiving the treatment also noted an improvement in their own quality of life.” The results of this research were published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
My Dad didn’t have Alzheimer’s disease, but he had severe dementia caused by a “poor outcome” after brain surgery. Sorry for the quotes, but that is one huge understatement. It’s medical jargon for “devastating.”
I spent ten years trying to help Dad have as good a quality of life as possible. This was long before the currently approved “validation therapy” approach. I went with my gut. Dad needed to feel needed. He needed to feel he could accomplish something so that he could feel he had a purpose. Dad had delusional flights of fantasy and I played along. I became his office manager, his public relations person and his personal representative, when he was “too busy” to attend functions. Our ongoing “game,” which I believe he understood on some level was a game, went on for most of a decade. Dad’s pseudo-accomplishments helped him feel as though he was still in and of this world.
Dad’s situation was, of course, different than a person with Alzheimer’s, in that his thought process was distorted overnight. Though he struggled to excel in any way possible, his fingers wouldn’t obey his brain, and his delusions made real learning, his previous passion, nearly impossible. Alzheimer’s disease can cause similar symptoms as the brain deteriorates, but the process is generally gradual.
In the Welsh study, “Goals were tailored to the participants’ specific needs and included things such as remembering details of jobs to be done around the house, maintaining concentration when cooking, learning to use a mobile phone and remembering the names of people at an exercise class.” These study participants were early enough in the disease process to set goals with their caregivers and work on those goals. In that way, the study participants were able to feel a sense of accomplishment.
I hear from many people with Alzheimer’s disease who plead with the general population, and even with researchers, to put more time, study and thought into helping them live better quality lives now. They understand the need for funding and research to move toward finding a cause and cure for this brain destroying disease. However, they know none of that research is likely to help them. All they are asking for is a little attention, as they struggle to cling to some quality of life.
This Welsh study should give these people with Alzheimer’s, and their families, some hope that more research will point to ways of improving the lives of those who are currently living with the disease. I know my dad, who highly valued research, would heartily agree.
Posted in Alzheimer’s, Health, Studies | No Comments »Tags: Health, medical studies, memory
