People living with dementia should be offered activities such as exercise, aromatherapy, art, gardening, baking, reminiscence therapy, music therapy, mindfulness and animal assisted therapy to help promote their wellbeing. The recommendation comes in NICE’s updated quality standard on dementia.
It says people living with dementia and people involved in their care should be given the opportunity to talk about their life experiences, preferences, interests, strengths with a healthcare professional. This can help the person living with dementia to choose activities to promote wellbeing that suit their preferences and needs.
The quality standard highlights the need to offer carers of people living with dementia education and skills training. This could include education about dementia, its symptoms and the changes to expect as the condition progresses. Skills training could include personalised strategies to help them provide care, including how to understand and respond to changes in behaviour. It also recognises the importance of providing informal carers with the support they need to enable them to manage the stresses and demands of caregiving and to fulfil their role.