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SVS 2011
Dementiaand
Sight Loss
SVS 2011
Introduction
Barbara Sharp
• Practice Development Manager, Alzheimer Scotland
• Research student looking at experience of stress in people with dementia
• Relative of someone who experienced dementia and sight loss
SVS 2011
Dementia and Sight Loss
• A brief overview of dementia as relevant to professionals in the field of eye health and visual loss
• Dementia and its impact on sight
• Consider some of the issues for people who experience both dementia and sight loss
SVS 2011
Dementia
Dementia is a collective term used to describe a range of losses in brain function - such as thinking, planning, calculating, remembering, reasoning, language – losses which severely impact on personal, social and occupational life
SVS 2011
Dementia
• Many conditions cause the features of dementia
• These conditions cause damage to neurones and complex connections between them
• Impact is highly individual – mostly progressive
SVS 2011
Types of dementia
Of the many different conditions that cause dementia the most common are:
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Vascular dementia
• Dementia with Lewy bodies
• Fronto-temporal dementia
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Changes within the brain
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EXPERIENCE OFDEMENTIA
Environment
The kind of person you
are and ways of coping
Personal life experiences
and relationships
PhysicalPsychological
Health
Changes to brain and function
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The person may experience difficulties with…
•Communication
•Memory
•Recognising people, places, objects
•Coping with unfamiliar places, people or activities
•Sense of time
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Possible difficulties…
• Reasoning and judgment
• Controlling emotional responses
• Coping with everyday activities
• Learning, concentration, planning and motivation
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Dementia and sight loss
Age related changes and common conditions
•Cataracts
•Glaucoma
•Retinal disorders
•Macular degeneration
SVS 2011
Dementia and sight loss
Good vision required for many activities associated with lowering risk to dementia and keeping well when you have dementia
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Dementia and sight loss
• Implications under researched• Estimated of 750,000 people in UK with
dementia – 100,000 will also have sight loss
• Ability to cope symptoms of dementia reduced by sight loss and ability to adapt to sight loss undermined by dementia
http://www.pocklington-trust.org.uk
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Visual difficulties in dementia
• Visual acuity
• Spatial awareness
• Perception of depth
• Contrast sensitivity
• Colour vision
• Misinterpretations
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Posterior Cortical Atrophy
Difficulties with:
• Recognising faces or objects in pictures
• Spatial awareness
• Handwriting or reading
• Mental arithmetic
• Dealing with money
• Co-ordination
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Experiences of dementia and sight loss
• Increased sense of disorientation
• Worries about safety – sometimes source of conflict
• Threat to identity heightened by multiple losses
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Experiences of dementia and sight loss
• Exceptional demands on carers
• Little significance attached to sight loss by dementia care staff
• Visual hallucinations common and disruptive
• Isolation
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How can I helpcommunicate?
• Gain attention and give full attention
• Be calm and patient
• Speak slowly and clearly
• Introduce yourself verbally
• Cues – text and image – highly individual
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How can I helpcommunicate?
• Be aware of the tone of your voice• Focus on emotions and feelings• Make suggestions if person struggling to
find words• Be aware of facial expressions, body
posture or mannerisms – what are they telling you?
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How can I help communicate?
• Be aware of your own body language
• Provide clues and visual/verbal prompts to assist understanding and promote confidence
• Try providing information in a variety of formats and with range of approaches
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How can I help with vision?
• Strong colour contrasts and matt finishes
• Avoid strong patterns on flooring
• Good lighting and keep it even
• Avoid clutter
• Colour code clothes
• Advice re aids and adaptations
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What needs to be done?
• Research on availability and up-take of sight tests
• Awareness, education and training
• Promote home visits by optometrists
• Develop expertise
• Reduce loneliness and isolation
• Manage threats to independence
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What needs to be done?
• Flexibility - tailor sight tests to the individual
• Ensure relative/carer present - consent
• Clear communication of results
• Research clinical testing methods
• Measure impact on quality of life of eye care, sight tests and cataract removal
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Assessing visual function
•Conventional approaches may be inadequate – dependent on difficulties experienced
•Some research on use of Teller Acuity Cards
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Working in partnershipAlzheimer Scotland and RNIB
• Learning from each other
• Working nationally and locally together
• Developing information, training programmes and materials on dementia and sight loss
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www.alzscot.org
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References and useful
sites
alzheimers.org.uk – Coping with sight loss Living with dementia Feb 2011 p 8-9
Guidelines: ‘Examining the patient with dementia or other acquired cognitive impairment’,
The College of Optometrists. Nov 10 Section C4 pp1-4
www.college-optometrists.org
Lawrence and Murray (2009)
Understanding the experiences and needs of people with dementia and sight loss
Working with Older people September 13 (3) pp 29-33
Morse, Teresi, Rosenthal, Holmes and Yatzkan (2004)
Research Report: Visual Acuity Assessment in Persons with Dementia
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness Sept pp 560 – 566
http://www.pocklington-trust.org.uk - Research discussion paper,
Improving vision and eye health care to people with dementia
Thomas Pocklington Trust Dec 2010 Number 8