Comforting the Confused: Strategies for Managing Dementia

"How to comfort? How to help?" are questions often asked by persons providing care to individuals suffering from dementia. According to Hoffman and Platt--a warm smile, gentle touch, and soothing voice tone can help toward improving quality of life.

The authors believe caregivers should be encouraged to emphasize non-verbal aspects of their communication throughout their daily care of the demented. Hoffman and Platt provide research-based, practical guidelines for communicating with dementia patients and offer strategies for responding to depression, aggression, wandering, and other behavioral problems. New to the Second edition are chapters addressing:

• Feeding strategies
• Falls and Use of Mechanical Restraints
• Special Care Units
• Dying and Grieving

Each chapter features learning objectives, a pretest, a posttest, and learning exercises. The book is a valuable tool for inservice training and a practical resource for professionals.