Dementia can affect language processing and production, making communication more difficult. This creates challenges for including the person’s perspective in research and service evaluation. A new study, published on 13 February 2022, aims to identify methods, tools and approaches that could facilitate meaningful communication with people with moderate-to-severe dementia and support the inclusion of their perspectives. This qualitative study was conducted as part of the IDEAL programme and involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 17 dementia research and/or care professionals with expertise in communication.
Transcripts were analysed using framework analysis. Useful skills and approaches were identified to help researchers engage and work with people with moderate-to-severe dementia and ensure their perspective is included. These covered getting to know the participant, using a variety of tangible tools and interactional techniques and considering the environment and context of the conversation. Find out more: https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012211069449
