Dementia resources - Collection development

For people living with dementia, their families and carers. The Dementia Guide is an important resource for any person impacted by any form of dementia, of any age. This resource contains information about the impact dementia may have on a person, the treatment, support and services they may need. It is available to read online, download as a pdf, listen to an audio version or request a print copy.

For 40 years, The 36-Hour Day has been the leading work in the field for caregivers of those with dementia. Written by experts with decades of experience caring for individuals with memory loss, Alzheimer's, and other dementias, the book is widely known for its authoritativeness and compassionate approach to care. Featuring everything from the causes of dementia to managing its early stages to advice on caring for those in the later stages of the disease.

Questions you need to ask about understanding, preventing, preparing for and coping with dementia Approaching the topic through 20 insightful questions, Dr Kate Gregorevic explains the physical state of dementia, how to relate the diagnosis to real life, what questions to ask your doctor, what might be done to prevent the condition, and how we can make our homes and society better for people with dementia.

There are steps you can take to reduce your risk of dementia, to delay its onset, and to ease the journey if the condition does occur. There are also effective interventions and treatments now available to address dementia-related symptoms. Dr Kailas Roberts who works as a specialist in memory loss and dementia uses plain and accessible language to explain how dementia affects the brain and body, what to expect in the event of a diagnosis, and how to manage each step along the way.

Dementia brings many challenges, not least its ability to disrupt effective communication. The quality of communication plays a major role in how well people living with a dementia manage. When communication doesn't work well, the complications of dementia are compounded. Rather than only offering tips on what to say and how to say it, this book explores the underlying motivations of communication, so we can better understand why we say what we do, why we say it the way we do, what can go wrong, and how attempts to fix things can go awry.

This resource is based on the real stories and real questions brought to the Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline, peer support groups and clinical networks. Including questions around diagnosis, peer support, balancing risks, care transitions and end of life planning, the chapters are devised to support you, and give you the tools to live better, when dementia enters your life.

This pocket guide will help you to better understand Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, the conditions, and how they are diagnosed and treated. Written by leading dementia experts, this book provides clear and concise information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatments, getting help and support, tips for people living with dementia and advice for carers

When Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young-onset dementia at the age of fifty-eight, her brain was overwhelmed with images of the last stages of the disease - those familiar tropes, shortcuts and clichés that we are fed by the media, or even our own health professionals. But her diagnosis far from represented the end of her life. Instead, it was the start of a very different one. Wise, practical and life affirming, What I Wish People Knew About Dementia combines anecdotes, research and Wendy Mitchell's own brilliant wit and wisdom to tell readers exactly what she wishes they knew about dementia.

When she was diagnosed with dementia at the age of fifty-eight, Wendy Mitchell was confronted with the most profound questions about life and identity. All at once, she had to say goodbye to the woman she used to be. Her demanding career in the NHS, her ability to drive, cook and run - the various shades of her independence - were suddenly gone.

The collected columns from former reporter and head of CBC current affairs, illuminating his experience following a dementia diagnosis. In 2013 Darce Fardy was diagnosed with dementia. He was eighty-one years old. Here, Fardy's columns have been compiled into a poignant and illuminating collection that serves to both honour him and destigmatize the disease.

Keith Oliver was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010, and has since become a leading activist for dementia care, and an international speaker. Telling his story through a diary format, this book gives an unparalleled insight into what day-to-day life with dementia is like, and how he continued to live a full life after diagnosis.

In One Last Thing, Wendy embarks on a journey to explore all angles of death: how we can prepare for it, how we talk about it with our loved ones and how we can be empowered to make our own choices. With conversations on the topic of assisted dying, from those who are fighting to make it legal to those vehemently opposed to its practice, Wendy reminds us that to get on with the business of living, we need to talk about death.

In People with Dementia Speak Out, twenty-three people from diverse backgrounds share their experiences of living with dementia. The contributors are honest about the frustrations and fears they face, but overall there is remarkably little self-pity and a great deal of optimism. The personal accounts demonstrate that with the right support at the right time, and above all with opportunities to continue to contribute to society in a meaningful way, it is possible to live well with dementia.

Meet Jack - an older man with dementia. Jack invites readers to learn about dementia from his perspective, helping them to understand the challenges faced by someone with dementia and the changes it causes to memory, communication and behaviour. He also gives advice on how to help someone with dementia stay as mentally and physically active as possible, keep safe and continue to feel cared for and valued. With illustrations throughout, this useful book will be an ideal introduction to dementia for anyone from child to adult. It will also guide family, friends and carers in understanding and explaining the condition and could serve as an excellent starting point for family discussions.

A Dementia Friend is someone who wants to make a positive difference to the lives of people living with dementia through increased awareness and support.

Enrich your community and empower the more than 413,000 people living with dementia in Australia by becoming a dementia-friend today.

Supporting People to Live Well with Dementia describes how to effectively develop, promote and evaluate services for people with dementia. It provides readers with an understanding of the different ways in which library customers may be affected by dementia, and an appreciation of some of the ways they can continue to contribute positively to their communities. It then suggests ways in which libraries can better support people with dementia and their carers through approaches to customer service, design, resources, reading interventions, online provision and a range of other activities that promote more positive and inclusive attitudes towards people living with dementia amongst library staff, customers and communities more widely.

Underpinning successful dementia-friendly communities is an awareness of people with dementia as active citizens and the importance of supporting engagement in community life. This book offers an overview of the dementia-friendly communities movement, showing the many benefits of this approach. This compassionate book tells another story about dementia, away from negative stereotypes. This alternative approach claims people can retain a sense of dignity, hold onto hope, sustain meaningful relationships, and live with a sense of purpose with support from their communities.

Designed for seasoned professionals and library science students alike, this book first presents a complete overview of the spectrum disease known as Alzheimer's dementia, as well as a basic understanding of the information needs of dementia caregivers. It then explores best practices, guidelines, and concrete ideas for serving those with dementia and their caregivers

Teaching caregivers how to find dementia-friendly daily activities and introduce them into a person's life, this comprehensive, empathetic guide is aimed at both family members and professionals. Twelve chapters full of useful, tangible activities touch on a range of topics, including exercise, technology, cooking and baking, memory games, and arts and crafts.

When people have short-term memory loss, their lives are made up of moments. We are not able to create perfectly wonderful days for people with dementia or Alzheimer's, but we can create perfectly wonderful moments, moments that put a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes.

This just released book has been inspired by the Music for dementia 2020 campaign and guides the reader through accessible activities with singing, percussion, sounding bowls and other musical tools demonstrating how music may can be used from the early to late stages of dementia.

Presenting research findings from recent studies, including pilot projects led by the authors in the UK and Brazil, this book provides an accessible, timely, practically relevant and jargon-free overview of how music and films are currently used in nursing homes, dementia wards and day care centres for the older population.

In Creative Care, Anne Basting lays the groundwork for a
widespread transformation in our approach to elder care and uses compelling, touching stories to inspire and guide us all—family, friends, and health professionals—in how to connect and interact with those living with dementia.

Whether your interests are in music, art, gaming, or gardening, The Memory Activity
Book has activities to suit, as well as ideas to inspire anyone looking for guidance
on how best to interact with people affected by memory issues, Alzheimer's, or other
forms of dementia. Whatever your involvement - friend, relative, partner, or patient - The Memory Activity Book offers a valuable resource for everyone living with dementia.

View more resources on activities and engagement in the eCollection

For 40 years, The 36-Hour Day has been the leading work in the field for caregivers of those with dementia. Written by experts with decades of experience caring for individuals with memory loss, Alzheimer's, and other dementias, the book is widely known for its authoritativeness and compassionate approach to care. Featuring everything from the causes of dementia to managing its early stages to advice on caring for those in the later stages of the disease.

These Three Things takes everyday situations (dressing, hygiene, meals, etc.) and looks at them from the perspective of a person with dementia with the goal of improving communication between patient and caregiver and minimizing undesirable behaviors. Each scenario is clearly outlined, followed by three practical action steps that a caregiver can utilize to solve the problem at hand, regardless of where the person is in their dementia journey.

The book is for caregivers, family members, friends, neighbours as well as educators and professionals—anyone touched by dementia. Dr. Boss helps caregivers find hope in "ambiguous loss"—having a loved one both here while possibly grieving a former version of the relationship. • Outlines seven guidelines to stay resilient while caring for someone who has dementia • Discusses the meaning of relationships with individuals who have a diagnosis of dementia • Offers approaches to understand and cope with the emotional strain of care-giving.The author shows a way to embrace rather than resist the ambiguity in your relationship with someone who has dementia.

In this book, you'll learn how to approach caring with calm, centered presence; respond to your loved one with compassion; and maintain authentic communication, even in the absence of words. Most importantly, you'll discover ways to manage the grief, anger, depression, and other emotions often associated with dementia care, so you can find strength and meaning in each moment you spend with your loved one.

The strategies featured in this guide have been used by the authors in their research studies and reflect approaches and techniques that families have found to be most helpful to understand and effectively respond to the changes brought about by dementia.

This book is all about how to make life with dementia as positive as possible - to maximise quality of life for all concerned. Just as we need to exercise our body's muscles to keep them strong, flexible and working well, so too do we need to exercise our mental muscles (our brain) to strengthen and maintain our neural capabilities. By tailoring activities to suit the needs and abilities of people living with dementia, we can help: maintain relationships with others; maintain self-identity; enhance mental function by providing physical and mental stimulation; stave off boredom; and, experience happiness and pleasure.

At its heart, this book is about how love gently lifts a corner of dementia’s dark curtain to cultivate an emotional connection amid memory loss. This collaborative work between a healthcare professional, caregiver, and relationship expert will: provide an overview of the love languages and Alzheimer’s disease; correlate the love languages with the developments of the stages of AD; discuss how both the caregiver and care receiver can apply the love languages; address the challenges and stresses of the caregiver journey; and offer personal stories and case studies about maintaining emotional intimacy amidst AD.

A Silent Tsunami is a unique combination of memoir and medicine – Rowan forensically examines the development of her mother's illness and explores dementia in a frank but illuminating, lyrical, and moving way. Anthea Rowan writes about her mother's struggles of living with Dementia while interpreting the science that surrounds this devastating illness. Grounded in personal observation, she casts an unflinching eye on the realities of living with a mother who has forgotten her daughter and a determination that her children will not face the same. There is hope here, too. As a portrayal of the relationships we share with our mothers, an examination of their influences on us, as well as asking questions about how illness impacts lives, A Silent Tsunami is a powerful story of family, life, love and loss.

Green Vanilla Tea is a true story of love and courage in the face of a deadly and little understood illness. With literary finesse, compassion, and a powerful gift of storytelling, Marie Williams writes poignantly of her husband Dominic's struggles with early onset dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 40, and how their family found hope amidst the wreckage of a mysterious neurological condition.

Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist and Alzheimer's advocate Meryl Comer's book is a profoundly personal, unflinching account of her husband's difficult battle with Alzheimer's disease that serves as a wake-up call to better understand and address a progressive and difficult disease. With harrowing honesty, she brings readers face to face with this devastating condition and its effects on those who care for them.

Many know Kimberly Williams-Paisley as the bride in the popular Steve Martin remakes of the Father of the Bride movies,or Peggy on Nashville, or the wife of country megastar Brad Paisley. But in 2014, Williams-Paisley revealed that her mother had been diagnosed with a rare form of dementia called primary progressive aphasia at the age of 61. She describes educating herself on her mother's condition, letting go of the shame and secrecy that surrounded it, and finding unexpected humour and grace in a terrible situation.

Andrea Gillies, a writer and mother of three, took on the care of her mother-in-law Nancy, who was in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This newly extended family moved to a big Victorian house on a headland in the far, far north of Scotland, where the author failed to write a novel and Nancy, her disease accelerated by change, began to move out of the rational world and into dementia’s alternative reality.

At times unbearably moving, at times poignantly comical, this memoir provides a fitting memorial to Dame Iris. It is an enchanting portrait of a remarkable marriage and an inspiration for anyone whose life is affected by Alzheimer’s disease

As the demand keeps growing for well-trained staff to provide high-quality memory care, those experienced in the Best Friends approach to dementia care have the required skills and confidence to deliver optimal care and succeed in this challenging caregiving role.
With this book, memory care programs can develop a "dementia capable" staff in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, dedicated memory care, adult day settings, and anywhere people with dementia are served.

Dawn Brooker and Isabelle Latham explain the evolution of the key principles of person-centred care that comprise the VIPS model. They describe how it has been applied in diverse service settings, and show how to put the model into practice.

This research-informed book explains how to make the most of mealtimes for increased nutritional intake, socialising, and food enjoyment. The book covers topics such as the physical act of eating and drinking and creating a comfortable and friendly dining environment.

Applying a 'rementia' based approach to dementia care, Jackie Pool shows how therapeutic cognitive rehabilitation techniques can be used to reduce symptoms of dementia and ultimately improve quality of life for people living with dementia.
Covering topics such as nutrition, stress, communication, memory and sleep, it provides all the tools and information necessary to build a personalised and flexible self-care plan which will improve and sustain quality of life.

The editor of this new edition of Dementia reconsidered, Dawn Brooker, has drawn together a group of writers to provide a commentary on Kitwood's original work. This new edition reproduces the original chapters but provides contemporary context from subject experts in the field.

This book clearly explains what happens to communication as dementia progresses, how this may affect an individual's memory, language and senses, and how carers might need to adapt their approach as a result. Advocating a person-centred approach to dementia care, the author describes methods of verbal and non-verbal communication, techniques for communicating with people who can not speak or move easily, and strategies for communicating more effectively in specific day-to-day situations, including at mealtimes, whilst helping the person with dementia to bathe or dress, and whilst out and about.

View further resources in our eCollection

Rose is in her eighties and has dementia, but she's not done with life just yet. Alternately sharp as a tack and spectacularly forgetful, she spends her days roaming the corridors of her aged-care facility, ruminating on the staff and residents and enduring visits from her emotionally distant children and grand-daughters. But when her friend is found dead after an apparent fall from a window, Rose embarks on an eccentric and deeply personal investigation to discover the truth and exposes all manner of secrets - even some from her own past.

An emotionally powerful novel about families and ageing, Delirious dramatises the questions we will all face, if we're lucky, or unlucky, enough. How to care for others? How to meet the new versions of ourselves who might arrive? How to cope? Delirious is also about the surprising ways second chances come around.

Grace can't settle. She can't shake the feeling that someone is missing.
You Must Remember This is an eloquent jumble of a family story, as experienced by Grace, an elderly woman with dementia trying to get her moorings in a worsening storm. It contemplates the perils of remembering and forgetting, making your own way in the world and how we seem bound to repeat the patterns of the past.

In this anthology of fourteen new short stories, commissioned by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea, some of the best contemporary writers from Ireland and the UK powerfully and poignantly explore the depths and breadth of the real dementia experience, traversing age, ethnicity, class and gender, sex and consent. Each writer's story is drawn from their own personal experience of dementia and told with outrageous and dark humour, empathy and startling insight.

A sophisticated psychological mystery that is also an heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and aging—an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared, and her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences.

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. A Harvard professor, she has a successful husband and three grown children. When she begins to grow forgetful, she dismisses it for as long as she can, but when she gets lost in her own neighbourhood she knows that something has gone terribly wrong. She finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of Alzheimer's Disease. She is fifty years old. Suddenly she has no classes to teach, no new research to conduct, no invited lectures to give. Ever again. Unable to work, read and, increasingly, take care of herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self gradually slips away.

After years of living overseas, Emily Kirkland returns to New Zealand to care for her father, Felix, who has dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time - and to glimpse shattering truths about his past.

Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there's just one other resident her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life at Rosalind House. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke. When Eve Bennett is suddenly thrust into the role of single mother she finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna's and Luke's families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them

An accomplished concert pianist, Richard has already suffered many losses in his life: the acrimonious divorce from his ex-wife, Karina; the estrangement of his daughter, Grace; and now, a devastating diagnosis. ALS. The relentlessly progressive paralysis of ALS begins in the cruellest way possible - in his hands. As Richard becomes more and more locked inside his body and can no longer play piano or live on his own, Karina steps in as his reluctant caregiver.
Lisa Genova writes with humor and humanity, but also with a scientist's eye about the daily depredations of disease, the incremental losses, the slower acceptances, the rage, the love, the courage, and, strangely enough, the joy.

Alan and Pina have lived contentedly in isolated – and insular – Boney Point for thirty years. Now they are dealing with Alan's devastating early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis. As he is cast adrift in the depths of his own mind, Pina is left to face the consequences alone, until the arrival of a flock of black cockatoos seems to tie him, somehow, to the present.
Nearby, conservation biologist Arianna Brandt is involved in a project trying to reintroduce the threatened glossy black cockatoos into the wilds of Murrungowar National Park. Alone in the haunted bush, and with her birds failing to thrive, Arianna's personal demons start to overwhelm her and risk undoing everything.

Foster suddenly recognised the feeling that rolled over him and made him feel sick. It was this: Dad was going away somewhere all on his own. And Foster was already missing him. Foster Sumner is seven years old. He likes toy soldiers, tadpole hunting, going to school and the beach. Best of all, he likes listening to his dad's stories. But then Foster's dad starts forgetting things. No one is too worried at first. Foster and Dad giggle about it. But the forgetting gets worse. And suddenly no one is laughing anymore.

Year Twelve is not off to a good start for Amelia. Art is her world, but her art teacher hates everything she does ; her best friend has stopped talking to her ; her mother and father may as well be living in separate houses; and her father is slowly forgetting everything. Even Amelia.

Three women - three secrets - one heart-stopping story. Katie, seventeen, in love with someone whose identity she can't reveal. Her mother Caroline, uptight, worn out and about to find the past catching up with her. Katie's grandmother, Mary, back with the family after years of mysterious absence and 'capable of anything', despite living with Alzheimer's disease. As Katie cares for an elderly woman who brings daily chaos to her life, she finds herself drawn to her.