Extend Quality & Length of Life
Science Daily—Through an intensive comparative study of two nursing home units using contrasting approaches to dementia care for elders with severely disturbed behaviors, Central Michigan University professor of anthropology Athena McLean has found that "humanizing" approaches to dementia care may not only extend quality of life for patients, but also their length of life.
In McLean's recently published book, "The Person in Dementia: A Study of Nursing Home Care in the U.S.," she discusses the dramatic contrasts in the outcomes of the two approaches to dementia care: a rigid task-oriented maintenance approach emphasizing disease progression and a flexible person-sustaining approach attentive to elders' communication and individual needs.
McLean found dramatic differences between life quality of the patients at the two nursing units. The patients at the unit that focused on "personhood", or looking beyond physical and reasoning abilities to a person's will and relationship with others, were found to be happier, had an overall improved quality of life and even lived longer. Those at the unit emphasizing disability and pathology tended to have their personal needs ignored were heavily medicated and often failed to thrive.
"These findings address issues that medicine can't answer," said McLean. "They are valuable not only for improving the general quality of life for these elders, but also for the long-term outcome based on how they are treated and cared for. These elders require attention, time and a lot of caring interaction."
McLean's findings also demonstrated how relations among professional and administrative staff within a facility can significantly affect the quality of the dementia care elders receive.
"I want people to see that dementia need not evoke the terror that the term Alzheimer's usually raises and that there is still hope in cases that many think are lost," said McLean. "Good caregivers are leaving the profession because they are underpaid and unappreciated. It needs to be understood by policy makers, family members and clinicians alike that money needs to be put into retaining quality caregiving staff, instead of only fancy facilities, which is currently the trend."
McLean is a cultural and medical anthropologist who spent more than ten years conducting full-time research before coming to CMU. Her studies of medicine and aging include examination of issues in international aging and the psychiatric consumer/survivor movement in the United States.
Diets rich in copper and heavy in saturated fats and trans fats could be related to the onset of Alzheimer’s. A study of more than 3,700 people 65 years or older found that subject that consumed at least 1.6 milligrams of copper a day along with foods heavy in saturated and trans fat added the equivalent of 19 years to their ages in terms of mental decline.
Copper is normally consumed in animal organs like liver as well as in shell fish, nuts, legumes, potatoes and chocolate. Drinking water that has traveled through copper pipes and taking multivitamins that contain copper are other ways to increase intake.
Copper is essentially for brain development—too much copper may block the body’s ability to rid itself of proteins that form plaques found to clog the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The study was conducted by Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Physicians have found some success in using estrogen to treat memory loss in older women. For more information go to www.nymemory.org or www.Herplace.comor read Estrogen, Memory & Menopause by Gayatri Devi, MD.
Improve or maintain cognition according to the Alzheimer’s Association
In McLean's recently published book, "The Person in Dementia: A Study of Nursing Home Care in the U.S.," she discusses the dramatic contrasts in the outcomes of the two approaches to dementia care: a rigid task-oriented maintenance approach emphasizing disease progression and a flexible person-sustaining approach attentive to elders' communication and individual needs.
McLean found dramatic differences between life quality of the patients at the two nursing units. The patients at the unit that focused on "personhood", or looking beyond physical and reasoning abilities to a person's will and relationship with others, were found to be happier, had an overall improved quality of life and even lived longer. Those at the unit emphasizing disability and pathology tended to have their personal needs ignored were heavily medicated and often failed to thrive.
"These findings address issues that medicine can't answer," said McLean. "They are valuable not only for improving the general quality of life for these elders, but also for the long-term outcome based on how they are treated and cared for. These elders require attention, time and a lot of caring interaction."
McLean's findings also demonstrated how relations among professional and administrative staff within a facility can significantly affect the quality of the dementia care elders receive.
"I want people to see that dementia need not evoke the terror that the term Alzheimer's usually raises and that there is still hope in cases that many think are lost," said McLean. "Good caregivers are leaving the profession because they are underpaid and unappreciated. It needs to be understood by policy makers, family members and clinicians alike that money needs to be put into retaining quality caregiving staff, instead of only fancy facilities, which is currently the trend."
McLean is a cultural and medical anthropologist who spent more than ten years conducting full-time research before coming to CMU. Her studies of medicine and aging include examination of issues in international aging and the psychiatric consumer/survivor movement in the United States.
Diets rich in copper and heavy in saturated fats and trans fats could be related to the onset of Alzheimer’s. A study of more than 3,700 people 65 years or older found that subject that consumed at least 1.6 milligrams of copper a day along with foods heavy in saturated and trans fat added the equivalent of 19 years to their ages in terms of mental decline.
Copper is normally consumed in animal organs like liver as well as in shell fish, nuts, legumes, potatoes and chocolate. Drinking water that has traveled through copper pipes and taking multivitamins that contain copper are other ways to increase intake.
Copper is essentially for brain development—too much copper may block the body’s ability to rid itself of proteins that form plaques found to clog the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The study was conducted by Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Physicians have found some success in using estrogen to treat memory loss in older women. For more information go to www.nymemory.org or www.Herplace.comor read Estrogen, Memory & Menopause by Gayatri Devi, MD.
Improve or maintain cognition according to the Alzheimer’s Association
- follow a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables
- Get out and move most days of the week.
- Play games, do crosswords or take a class
- Reduce high blood pressure or high cholesterol
- Adopt and optimistic approach to life