Book review: Hearing the Person with Dementia

Hearing the Person with Dementia: Person-Centred Approaches to Communication for Families and Caregivers

★★★★

Bernie McCarthy

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

ISBN 9781849051866

£11.99

Recent policy initiatives such as the dementia strategy for England have encouraged an increasing awareness of the needs of people with dementia, writes Dr Elaine Argyle.

This book reflects and responds to these developments by exploring the issue of communication. It draws extensively on person-centred approaches and over its six chapters gives a concise and practical guide to communicating more effectively with people with dementia.

It also considers potential barriers to achieving this communication and how they can be overcome. For example, chapter one focuses on the impact of dementia on brain functioning and communication, while chapter four examines ways of communicating with people without speech or mobility. The book concludes with a consideration of ways in which carers can be helped to cope with their role.

The fact that exercises and questions are incorporated into each chapter helps to promote the readers’ understanding of the material presented by allowing them to reflect on their prior learning and apply this to real-life situations. However, this book is largely practical rather than academic in its orientation and its explicit reference to wider literature is kept to a minimum. It is nevertheless a useful and accessible resource for anyone who works with people with dementia as well as for family caregivers and students.

Dr Elaine Argyle is a researcher, Centre for Applied Social Research, University of Bradford