Dr. Laura Gitlin issues a call to OT practitioners to lead the changing of dementia care within the United States. She details interventions that provide strategies for caregivers to enhance the ability of people with dementia to engage in activities, reduce agitation and behavioral symptoms, reduce the functional disability of the client with dementia while improving the care giver’s well-being and confidence and reducing their depression and burden.

I know this episode left me feeling so pumped and so inspired about the leading role OT can play in dementia care and I hope you take out of it as much as I did.

Resources:

Link to the TAP program: https://duo.online.drexel.edu/new-ways-for-better-days/

Environmental competency press theory: M. Powell Lawton, Environment and Other Determinants of Weil-Being in Older People, The Gerontologist, Volume 23, Issue 4, August 1983, Pages 349–357, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/23.4.349

The 36 Hour Day (book): https://www.amazon.com/36-Hour-Day-Alzheimer-Disease-Dementias/dp/1455521159

Better living with Dementia: Implications for Individuals, families, communities and societies community: (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Better-Living-Dementia-Implications-Individuals/dp/0128119284

A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia: (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Caregivers-Guide-Dementia-Activities-Strategies/dp/1933822902/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=A+caregiver+guide+to+dementia+laura+gitlin&qid=1573066950&s=books&sr=1-3

Living with dementia online open course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/dementia-care