Question

1. Mr. Heron is a client of your agency. He lives in a retirement home but uses home-support services from your agency two mornings a week. You have been visiting Mr. Heron for a month now. Although he is forgetful, he is a precise person who has definite preferences as to how things should be done.

Four times out of the eight times you have visited Mr. Heron, he has met you at the elevator near his room. Sometimes he is fully dressed; sometimes he is only partially dressed. He is always very anxious. He tells you, “The train is leaving and I have to get on it or I will be late.” You know that Mr. Heron was a high-school principal who lived in Mississauga and worked in downtown Toronto.

1. Explain how Mr. Heron’s personality traits contribute to his reaction? (2 marks)

2. If Mr. Heron’s diagnosis is Alzheimer’s disease, how might memory loss contribute to his reaction? (2 marks)

3. Using effective communication techniques, how would you respond to Mr. Heron’s statement? Explain why this response would be helpful.   (4 marks)

2. Why is depression often mistaken for dementia?   (2 marks)

3. Consider the activity of eating. How would each stage (Early, Middle and Late) of Alzheimer’s affect a person’s ability to eat? As a PSW identify one strategy for each stage that you could use to assist a person with eating. Explain why each strategy would be appropriate and effective.

(3 changes, 3 strategies and 3 explanations for a total of 9 marks)

4. Consider a person diagnosed with Middle-Stage Alzheimer’s living at home. List 5 safety measures to use in this person’s home. Explain why each safety measure is appropriate with specific references to behavioural, cognitive and sensory changes experienced by a person with Middle-Stage Alzheimer’s. (10 marks)

5. Mrs. Green is a client of your agency. She has a diagnosis of vascular dementia. She is only mildly forgetful from time to time. She takes comfort in “getting answers” although she may forget them. She says to you, “Have you seen my daughter? I haven’t seen her in a long time.” You know that the daughter visits on a regular basis, but are not sure when she was last at your client’s home.    

1. What is multi-infarct dementia? (2 marks)

2. How might Mrs. Green’s forgetfulness interfere with her safety needs? (2 marks)

4. Using effective communication techniques, how would you respond to Mrs. Green’s question? Explain why this response would be helpful.   (4 marks)

6. Mr. Black, age 89, has multi-infarct dementia with severe memory loss, impaired judgment, and mood swings. He is also profoundly deaf and has some vision problems. He is increasingly weak and unsteady on his feet and needs to be supervised and assisted with all activities of daily living. He lives in a private room in a long-term-care facility. He will not join in any activities and often refuses to go to the dining room for his meals. Sometimes he has angry outbursts and is often found crying in his room. He says that he should be able to go out and have a job again. He feels that everything has been taken away from him. He often expresses that his life is worthless and he wishes he could die.

Mrs. Black visits her husband every day and attempts to rationalize with him and talk him out of his bad moods. She appears to care for him very much and often tidies his room and changes his clothes. He usually unloads all of his feelings on her and she goes away feeling frustrated and guilty.

1. Explain how failing physical health, affects Mr. Black’s mental and emotional health. (2 marks)

2. Explain how institutionalization and loss affect Mr. Black’s mental health. (2 marks)

3. What are the advantages that Mr. and Mrs. Black each experience as a result of Mrs. Black’s visits? (2 marks)

4. What are the disadvantages that Mr. and Mrs. Black each experience as a result of Mrs. Black’s visits? (2 marks)

Answer 1

Answer :

Q. No : a) . Answer :

Alzheimers disease : it is defined as it is one of the neurological disorder, and it is a progressive disorders, it will cause the memory loss and destroys the other important mental functions.

* mood swings and behavioral changes also we will abserve here.

* here the client personality traits are anxiety, and forgetfulness, and showing some behavior like, training is going, I want to go, I am late like that he is showing his behavior.

* these types of personality traits we may seen in Alzheimers disease.

Q. No b) . Answer :

In Alzheimers disease the brain may affect.

* gradually it will cause the dementia or loss of memory.

* here the client is retired person, then also still he is thinking that he wants to go home and my train is missing like that he is behaving, so still he is remembering the previous days.

* and he is forgetfulness.

Q. No. c) answer :

Effective communication techniques for Alzheimer's disease clients :

1. Patience

2. Understanding

3. Good listening skills

These three are very important in these condition, because the clients are having here, mood swings and memory loss and forgetfulness so by patience we have to listen the things what ever is telling by the client.

* understand things what he is telling and why like that, and compare it either correlates with the situation or not.

* good listening skills may useful to understand clearly the patient problems.

* and also he is in angry so we must have to speak with him patiently.

* so that we can provide good health care.

Depression it a severe problem of older people, and it is mistaken with dementia because, almost symptoms of dementia they express in depression.

* these symptoms due to psychological illness rather than degenerative diseases.

So that's Way the depression mistaken with dementia.