Dementia care for persons ageing with intellectual disability - developing non-pharmacological strategies for support

Abstract

First paragraph: Textbooks, academic articles and information guides about dementia often give suggestions to carers about adapting the home environment, reinforcing the importance of music or reminiscence, and strategies that may lessen symptoms associated with dementia. Television programmes and media articles are taking an increased interest in such interventions in practice. However, such resources or features rarely, if ever, have clear application for people who also have an intellectual disability. This demonstrates the importance of conducting non-pharmacological (non-drug) intervention studies with participants who have an intellectual disability and who continue to remain excluded from mainstream dementia research (Watchman, 2016). Non-drug interventions represent a broad array of environmental, psychosocial and non-medical approaches aiming to reduce the impact of behavioural and psychological changes that can be associated with dementia (Jokinen, 2014). This chapter discusses findings from a study in Scotland, UK on the effects of implementation of non-drug interventions with people who have an intellectual disability and dementia, specifically focusing on the examples of two individuals where a design change to the home environment, music playlist and reminiscence activity were implemented.