Conversation practices that foster or hinder inclusivity during interactions involving persons with dementia

Abstract

This article highlights co-participant strategies during conversations involving participants diagnosed with dementia that encourage continued, productive interaction fostering inclusivity. The conversation excerpts illustrate positive results when non-impaired co-participants respond to impaired syntax as though it makes sense or as if it completes a coherent syntactic–semantic action. Helpful co-participants yield control of conversations, rather than issuing corrections; demonstrate an acuity for when to divert topics; and acknowledge their co-participants’ concerns. In contrast, non-inclusive strategies include overuse of questions, overcorrecting, minimizing dementia symptoms, or dismissing co-participants’ concerns, which frequently result in persons with dementia resisting or withdrawing from conversations, often accompanied by displays of anger. The goal is to raise awareness of strategies which promise an increase in and longer duration of interactions, decrease loneliness, and increase health and emotional outcomes of older persons.