This Is Me Essay

On the other hand, the assertion that person-centred care always appropriately identifies patient’s emotional needs must be challenged. For example the use of the ‘This is me’ Alzheimer’s Society (2016) booklet is a popular method of ‘preserving identity’ in patients with Dementia, used in both hospitals and care institutions. It is a record of the patient’s life history and preferences. However although ‘This is me’ is useful as a simplistic overview, it does not allow scope for a greater depth of understanding, for example acknowledgement of traumatic or distressing events in a patient’s history. Therefore it can be argued to be a ‘white-washing’ of a multifaceted individual rather than a preservation. For example Andre asks about his daughter

However even among carers, there is ethical conflict surrounding respond to their relatives expressing challenging behaviour. Evidence suggests that there is a trend of carers struggling to acknowledge distressing emotions exhibited by patients with Dementia, as Lützau-Hohlbein et al (2014) notes often carers will ignore the original problem or offer false reassurance. Tranvag et al (2013) found in their metasynthesis on studies of preserving dignity in Dementia patients, that the most common method of dealing with the patient’s emotional distress was to employ distraction techniques to promote contentment. This is shown in ‘The Father’ by Anne dodging Andre’s questions ‘’. One of the key points of Kitwood’s model of person-centred care is that the person with dementia should experience ‘…relative well-being’ (Kitwood 1993:51). However this emphasis upon contentment over integrity must be evaluated, as in Andre’s case it can be argued that employing this method of person-centred care contradicts itself as being empathetic, as by deceiving Andre the values of respect and valuing him as an individual are