The dement in the community: Social work practice with people with dementia revisited

Abstract

While social work practice with people with dementia and their families has a long but largely hidden history, it is an emerging area of specialism. The increased incidence, prevalence and recognition of dementia suggest that this area of practice will expand and so learning from previous practice may offer helpful insights. This paper describes and reflects upon social work practice with 'dements' in the 1950s in England. It draws on a reading of a small book written by a psychiatric social worker, Miss M (Muriel) H Bree, outlining her role in providing after-care to patients with neuro-syphilis who had been discharged from hospital to live with their families between 1942 and 1952 through her consideration of 275 case records and seven illustrative case studies. As a historical document, Bree's account presents a rich description of the patients and their social circumstances in post-war Britain; an account of practice from a hospital based setting that reached into the community, and of the engagement of a social worker with her clients and their family members. Threads and continuities with contemporary social work practice with people with dementia are explored; particularly work with family carers, younger people with dementia, and the value placed upon continuity of care.

Counselling of people with dementia in legal matters – social and health care professionals’ role

“…Even though the provision of counselling has been shown to contribute significantly to the wellbeing of people with dementia, it is only in the past two decades that research (in the field of social work) has shifted towards providing support after diagnosis (Bunn et al, 2012;Kaplan & Andersen, 2013;Kuhn, 2007). Nowadays the role of social and health care professionals supporting people with dementia has been recognised as essential (Cox, 2007;Manthorpe & Iliffe, 2005;Ray et al, 2015;Rusac, 2017) and social work practice has even been referred to as an emerging area of specialism (Manthorpe, 2016). Nevertheless the provision of counselling people with dementia and their carers has recently become a more common research topic (see, for instance, Corbett et al, 2012;Hill & Brettle, 2006;Mittelman & Bartels, 2014;Tanner, 2013;Whitlatch, Judge, Zarit, & Femia, 2006) and elder law research is also viewed as an emerging field (Doron, 2009;Doron & Soden, 2012;Herring, 2009a;Numhauser-Henning, 2017).…”

Muistisairaan ihmisen mielen hyvinvoinnin edellytykset - miten turvata oikeus niiden toteutumiseen?

“…Muistityö on jatkuvasti kehittyvä erikois ala (Manthorpe & Iliffe 2005;Tanner 2011;Manthorpe 2016), jossa sairastuneen ja hä nen omaisensa kohtaaminen ja tukeminen on olennaisessa roolissa (HuhtamäkiKuoppala ym. 2015).…”

Dementia and Clinical Interaction in Frontline Radiography: Mapping the Practical Experiences of Junior Clinicians in the UK

“…Moreover, a number of social studies of professional work addressing those health services has recently emerged pertaining to the wide range of nuanced communicative challenges that can arise for practitioners of all specialisations, and all levels of experience, during face-toface interaction with patients/clients with dementia (Manthorpe, 2016;Oppikofer & Geschwindner, 2014;Veselinova, 2014). Within this corpus, it is reported that junior practitioners of all orders are in a particular position of disadvantage Tullo, Young, & Lee, 2016), working with an ever-increasing number of patients with dementia, but without having yet accrued the levels of direct professional experience conventionally thought to be key to developing expertise' in clinical performance (Yielder, 2006).…”

“…Within this corpus, it is reported that junior practitioners of all orders are in a particular position of disadvantage Tullo, Young, & Lee, 2016), working with an ever-increasing number of patients with dementia, but without having yet accrued the levels of direct professional experience conventionally thought to be key to developing expertise' in clinical performance (Yielder, 2006). It remains the case that studies of healthcare practice around dementia have, to date, overwhelmingly focused upon professional-client contexts where the dementia itself is the manifest reason for that interaction taking place at all; making diagnoses of dementia Garand, Lingler, Conner, & Dew, 2009), managing patients with dementia on hospital wards or in residential care (Baker, Huxley, Dennis, Islam, & Russell, 2015;Talbot & Brewer, 2015), effecting community-based care for individuals with dementia (Manthorpe, 2016) and so forth. The literature addressing healthcare scenarios where the patient's dementia is not the salient reason for a given interaction remains less abundant.…”

“…It has been axiomatic for some time in healthcare research that a rapidly ageing population, and a corollary growth in the numbers of individuals suffering from dementia, has been causing a progressive range of structural/distributional problems for many frontline public and private healthcare services (Iliffe, Wilcock, & Haworth, 2006; Kasteridis et al., 2016). Moreover, a number of social studies of professional work addressing those health services has recently emerged pertaining to the wide range of nuanced communicative challenges that can arise for practitioners of all specialisations, and all levels of experience, during face-to-face interaction with patients/clients with dementia (Manthorpe, 2016; Oppikofer & Geschwindner, 2014; Veselinova, 2014). Within this corpus, it is reported that junior practitioners of all orders are in a particular position of disadvantage (Baillie, Cox, & Merritt, 2012; Tullo, Young, & Lee, 2016), working with an ever-increasing number of patients with dementia, but without having yet accrued the levels of direct professional experience conventionally thought to be key to developing expertise’ in clinical performance (Yielder, 2006).…”