Dementia for Memory Impairment and Communication- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theDementia for Memory Impairment and Communication. Answer: Dementia is a progressive mental disorder associated with symptoms of cognitive decline, memory impairment and communication related issues in affected individual. Symptoms like inability to focus, poor reasoning and judgment and social impairment has a negative impact on the life of people with dementia. The diagnosis of dementia and management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia becomes a challenge for patient as well as their family member (Kales, Gitlin Lyketsos, 2015). This essay examines the issues faced by people with dementia and its impact on patient and their family members by the analysis of the case study of Leda Alexiou, an 81 year old patient with symptoms of dementia. The essay also provides a discussion on the role of Aged Care Assessment Team in addressing the needs of Leda and her family and the role of other types of service in supporting Leda. The first section of the essay looks at the main issues in the case study and its impact on people with dementia and their family. From the review of the case study of 81 year old woman Leda Alexiou, it has been found that she has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is the second most common cause of dementia that occurs because of impaired supply of blood to the brain. This results in decline of thinking skills and changes in perception of people. Confusion, disorientation, vision loss and trouble in speaking are common symptoms found in patient (T O'Brien Thomas, 2015). Ledas family also found such changes in Leda after transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs). Three years ago, she suffered from series of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) and after the TIAs, abnormal behavioral symptoms were observed by her family members. Leda found it hard to find English words while speaking and she failed to follow easy knitting patterns which could do easily previously. The se verity of the condition was also evident from the fact that Leda could no longer read or understand English and could converse only in Greek dialect. Leda was also a patient with Type 1 diabetes. Age, diabetes, stroke and hypertension are common risk factors contributing to vascular dementia and three of these risk factors were found in Leda too (Song et al., 2014). Evidence support the fact that Type 2 diabetes and increases risk of cardiovascular disease as well as dementia and the risk of vascular dementia is particularly higher in women (Chatterjee et al., 2016). From the review of Ledas case scenario, it can be said that impaired communication and poor thinking skills is a major issue for patient. As Leda is an 81 year old patient, age has deteroriated her symptoms. This can be explained by the fact that insulin receptors which are related to cognitive function decrease with increasing age (Song et al., 2014). As Leda has lost her ability to read and converse in English, this is a major issue for patient as this will create communication challenges for patient and lead to impaired social interaction. Due to her inability to convey thoughts and feelings, symptoms of uncertainty and confusion will increase for Leda. She is likely to socially isolate from people and may develop signs of depression too because of social isolation. Kim et al., (2016) also supports the fact that social interaction is greatly linked to dementia as poor social interaction worsens symptoms of patient and positive social ineteraction can bring positive changes in pati ent. Communication difficultly can increase challenges for the family member or carer of Leda too as they may fail to understand message of patient. A family carer may also feel bereft due to changes in communication and relationship with dementia patient. In this situation, carer may also need support from professionals to learn the skills to communicate with people with dementia and effectively fulfill unmet needs of their love ones (Feast et al., 2016). Another issues identified from Ledas case scenario is symptom of aggression and irritability in patient. After the diagnosis of vascular dementia, Ledas behavior has changed drastically. Her younger sister, Jocasta became the primary carer of Leda after started forgetting her medication and Jocasta suffered a lot because of Ledas verbally abusive behavior. Leda was found to be agitated and irritated most of the time and she suffered from mood swings mostly in the evening. Verbal aggression and irritation is another major issue found in the case study as this has had adverse impact on mental health of her sister Jocasta. Jocasta suffers from distress because of her sisters aggressive behavior and this problem has also affected her ability to provide Ledas diabetes medication on time as Leda becomes irritate while taking medications too. Jocasta is tired and low in energy and cannot go out for refreshment also because of the need to care for Leda. Husebo et al. (2014) also supports the fact that behavioral disturbances like aggression and agitation are common in patients with dementia and these symptoms increase stress and depression in patients and their carers. The analysis of case study implies that dementia has affected the mental health and quality of life of Leda and her carers too. Hence, this issue needs to be managed to ensure that family cares have the right coping ability to handle adverse symptoms of patient with dementia. From the review of Ledas case scenario, it is understood that appropriate dementia care service is necessary to manage behavioral symptoms in patient and decrease stress for her carer, Jocasta. As Leda is a citizen of Victoria, Dementia Australia organization has been chosen to help Leda and address the issues faced by her care Jocasta. Dementia Australia is an international organization that works with people living with dementia and their family members and carer to fulfill their needs. It is a member of Alzheimers Disease Australia and provide range of service and national dementia programs to provide support to people living with dementia. The type of service includes the National Dementia Helpline, early intervention programs, Dementia and Memory Community Centres, Counselling, carer support groups and education for family carers (Dementia.org.au. 2018). There are many specific programs implemented in Dementia Australia Victoria which can be applied for addressing challenges fac ed by Leda and her sister Jocasta. Firstly, Dementia Australias counseling and support service can be utilized to address symptoms of aggression in Leda and address challenges faced by Jocasta in providing care to her elder sister. Counseling and support service is essential for the patient to help patient and their family members to cope with daily challenges associated with dementia. As Leda had developed signs of confusion, irritation and inability to converse in English language, counseling support service is needed to help Leda make sense of her diagnosis and get the right support for coping and living with dementia. Counseling session and talk therapy can also support patient with dementia in using memory aid and reinforcement to eliminate feelings of confusion. Such kind of support can improve cognitive, quality of life patient and health of caregiver (Orrell et al., 2017). In addition, counseling and support is also necessary for family carers like Jocasta to help her deal with feelings of stress and communica tion challenges while caring for dementia patient. Systemtic counseling of family caregivers can help them to deal with disorientation, cognitive deficits and mood swings in patient. This can improve emotional and physical health of family caregiver and also reduce burden of care (Grossfeld-Schmitz et al. 2010). The advantage of Dementia Australia Vics counsellors available at counseling and support service is that they are professional trained staff who can provide right guidance both by telephone or in the home of patients. Carers of patient can gain a lot from dementia counseling as the service will not only reduce the stress level of Jocasta but also increase their knowledge regarding best assistance services to take help for dementia care (Dementia.org.au., 2018). Another Dementia Austrlias service that is suitable to address the challenges faced by Leda and Jocasta includes the support group support. This is needed for Leda so daily activities of Leda such a toileting needs, need to take medication on time and communicating with others can be addressed. Secondly, Jocasta is also in need of support group services so that her care burden is reduced and she gets another professional persons help to cope with aggressive behavior of patient. Support group service like Living with Dementia Program is a four to six week information and support program where separate issues of patient and caregivers are discussed. Memory Lane Caf is also a beneficial service for people with dementia and their family members as it provides them the opportunity to enjoy time with other dementia patient along with some entertainment and refreshment. This would fulfill Jocastas wish to go out for some refreshment and also provide her the opportunity to learn new coping s kills by interaction with other dementia care givers. It also provides many dementia education course where Jocasta can learn the skills to interpret Ledas message and communicate with her without any confusion (Dementia Australia | Support Groups 2018). Dam et al. (2016) also argued that support group intervention is necessary for informal caregivers as they are most likely to experience stress and this kind of intervention can enhance subjective well-being of caregiver. In addition educational intervention has the benefit of reducing caregiver burden, reducing symptom of depression in dementia caregiver (Jensen et al. 2015). As Jacosta is the only carer of Leda, she can also use Online Dementia Support services provided by Dementia Australia Victoria to easily access information and support needed to provide optimal care to patient. As she had been challenges many times because of aggressibe behavior of Leda and her irritation while taking diabetes medication, she can effectively use this service to acknowledge such times which increases stress level for her. It can provide range of information and resources to Jacosta to improve her caring capability and dealing with behavioral challenges of Leda. Another advantage of this service is that it provide video conference counseling too. Hence, Jacosta can easily contact dementia care professional from home and discuss about the ways to overcome distress and provide the right support to patient. I addition, it also has a forum for participating in online peer support community where she can engage in one-to-one communication with experienced dementia care pro fessiona. Blom et al. (2015) explained that internet interventions for family carers of people with dementia are promising opting to keep support accessible and affordable for family caregivers. From the above evidence, it is understood that Dementia Australia is a competitive organization in improving the lives of patient with dementia and their family members. However, one patient need that cannot be specifically addressed by its services is toileting needs of patient and managing symptom of urination due to diabetes in patient. Hence, to provide assistance to Jacosta in helping her to urinate at the right place, it is necessary that Jacosta approach nursing care services to get one dementia specialist nurse who could look after toileting needs. Dementia specialized hospitals in Australia can be contacted so that a nurse or other support staffs is available round the clock to address toileting and urinating problem of Leda. They can help to set up a bathroom where it is easy for Leda to urinate and they also observe when the patient is giving sign to urinate. As Leda get irritated, professional staffs can calm patient and teach them to urinate at the right place. They can also help to provide adequate clothing to patient (Griffiths et al., 2015). The essay gave an insight into the issues faced by dementia patient and their family givers by the analysis of issues found in the case study of Leda. By the identification of challenges faced by Leda and her caregiver in dealing with dementia symptoms, Dementia Australia services in Victoria was chosen to support them and address their issues faced in caring for patient. 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