General Tips

General tips for helping with personal care and other daily activities

Carers should try to:

• Develop ways of doing things that reduce the stress of the person with dementia
• Support the skills and abilities that remain
• Keep things familiar and constant
• Prompt memory
• Provide opportunities for maintaining independence
• Give yourself time - making sure as far as possible that you are not rushed or tense
• Always say clearly what you are going to do and repeat what is going to happen
• Talk about what you are doing - this serves to provide reassurance
• Break the tasks down into small manageable steps and prompt both physically (by, for example, making tooth brushing motions) and verbally - 'now you put the toothpaste on the brush' instead of saying 'now brush your teeth'
• Take over only when the person you care for is becoming frustrated about the next step
• Recognise when someone really cannot manage something anymore.

Familiar routines are likely to be well remembered and continuing to carry them out provides the person with dementia with an important sense of control and self esteem.

If certain aspects of a routine become difficult, see if there is a way in which you can simplify what has to be done.