Communication Skills for Health Professionals Working with People with Dementia

Abstract or Introduction

The utilisation of effective communication skills by health professionals serves as a crucial aspect in the delivery of quality healthcare and has been proven to improve coping, mitigate medical errors and ultimately increase treatment adherence. Successful therapeutic communication is achieved through the appropriate use of verbal and non-verbal mechanisms in conjunction with careful consideration of differences in communicative abilities, cultural orientation, social backgrounds and personal beliefs. Communication barriers frequently identified between health professionals and people with dementia (PwD) have been shown to significantly impact their quality of life, treatment effectiveness and progression of their condition.

Dementia is characterised by a progressive decline in memory function along with reasoning, expressive and comprehension abilities. Although the prevailing symptoms pose challenges to communication from health professionals, adopting a strength orientated approach by exploiting the many communication abilities retained by PwD allows the development of strategies to overcome existing barriers. The following report aims to examine the effectiveness of two communication skills, vocabulary and visual aids, in facilitating the provision of quality healthcare for PwD.