Fostering attachment in dementia care

Matthew Berrisford is a Charge Nurse at The Meadows Community Hospital, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. He tweets @berrisfjord

One of the most useful pieces of advice I can share with a colleague working in dementia care is this: whenever confronted with what you perceive to be attention­-seeking behaviour, reframe it to yourself as attachment-seeking behaviour.

Attachment is a hard-wired evolutionary mechanism in all mammals. Simply put, in order to survive, infants must imprint upon a main carer (typically one or both parents) to ensure that their essential needs are met.

These needs are not purely physical (food, drink, protection); the relationship itself is essential. This fact is aptly demonstrated by animal experiments (Harlow’s monkeys and Skinner’s rats, for example) which consistently show that infant mammals raised in isolation – with no access to a main carer to imprint upon – age quickly and die younger.

What is “essential” about dementia care?

Dr Shibley Rahman is an academic physician interested mainly in dementia and frailty. He tweets at @dr_shibley

I have often wondered what ‘essential dementia care’ looks like. It must include treating people with respect and dignity.

Failures in dementia care, sustained for a long period of time, however obligate a more detailed response. The concept of personhood was first applied to people with dementia by Tom Kitwood (1997). The concept is used generally to describe what makes up the attributes of “being a person” (Dewing, 2008). According to Kitwood (1997), personhood is ‘a standing or status that is bestowed upon one human being, by others, it implies recognition, respect and trust’. Therefore “dementia care” is potentially a deceptively simple term because respecting personhood means that people are not defined primarily by their conditions.