By Occupational Therapy Students at Sheffield Hallam, Lily Boyd and Zara Razzaq.
Supported by Dementia Focused Occupational Therapist, Charlotte Sutcliffe
This Awareness Package has been created as a collaboration between a number of organisations supporting occupational therapy students on their leadership placement. We hope this is a valuable resource for professionals to support their group or one to one work with people who are living with dementia and are concerned about falling.
Design of the Package
The package has been designed primarily for the use in groups but could also be used in 1:1 interactions. The groups may be community groups like dementia friendly cafes, discussion groups within primary care, activity workers in extra care facilities or care home environments or home carers supporting people in their own home.
It is intended that a variety of information is included under each of the subheadings which facilitate bite size interactions/sessions. Hopefully the information provided enables the subject matter to be divided down further so that the same subject can be covered again but with a different emphasis e.g. footcare one session focuses on feet hygiene/looking after your feet and another time the focus could be on footwear.
Some sections may be more relevant than others, depending on the setting.
Falls Hazards Subheadings e.g. Eating Well | Each subheading of this package contains information as to why they can cause falls, and ways that can prevent this from happening. Each subheading page is organised in the same manner. |
| Discussion Questions | A number of questions have been provided with the intention of some being used for one intervention/session and others being used for similar themed bite-sized sessions at another time |
| Sensory Stimulation | Discussion with people is a great way to communicate but for people living with dementia, other forms of sensory stimulation can be beneficial. Seeing an item, holding something and even smelling/tasting can provoke different thought processes. Use the suggestions given to facilitate more questions, discuss the item, describe how it feels to stimulate memories enabling the person to feel engaged and hopefully retain more from the interaction. |
| Activities | Examples of activities have been suggested which encompass the subject matter, using a variety of skills to engage a person. |
