by Diana Kerr and Heather Wilkinson (Ringbound Resource 76pp) Price £19.95 Published by Pavilion and The Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2006
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation supported this publication, and the project which gave rise to it, as part of its programme and research of innovative development, in the hope that it might be of value to policy makers, practitioners and service users. Part of the quality of this training manual comes from the process by which the project team harvested many years of research and practice of working with people who develop dementia, together with their care staff, family and friends.
The pack has been developed to try and help anyone trying to support a person who develops dementia. It contains a series of easily accessible, straight forward, practicable and realistic guidance. The pack is arranged in three main sections. Section 1 provides some background, Section 2 a range of fact sheets and Section 3 offers tools that can be used in practice to support the person with dementia. The publication contains a comprehensive and extensive set of up-to-date references together with details of sources for further support and information.
The pack is particularly strong in the areas of developing good communication and on the necessity to set high standards for the environment in which an individual is cared for. The process of the development of dementia is especially well documented and described.
In a society that continues to under- value the work of care, it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve ambitious aspirations for a high, quality, person centred care. Training materials like this pack will help all those individuals and groups who wish to put the person at the centre of their work and develop staff through training, reflection and action.
James Woodward