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Effective Communication With People Suffering From Dementia

31 December 2023

When you care for a family member with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, it is important that you maintain respectful and sensitive communication. It is recommended to provide positive feedback, to listen patiently and attentively, and refrain from embarrassing or challenging them.

Tips for effective communication

  • Provide positive feedback both during a conversation and through nonverbal cues
  • Provide your full attention and neutralize distractions
  • Make eye contact and do not talk with the person behind their back
  • If required, introduce yourself and remind the person who you are
  • Use simple language, and if necessary, rephrase statements using different words
  • Speak slowly and in a clear voice, and refrain from using a loud and threatening voice
  • Ask questions that have simple and clear answers, such as "yes" or "no"
  • Talk about the past and avoid asking questions about recent days
  • Avoid arguments and confrontations
  • Do not perform “memory tests”

When you care for a family member with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, it is important that you maintain respectful and sensitive communication. In general, it is advised to communicate with individuals with dementia in the same manner that you would communicate with healthy individuals - as equals, at eye level, and with respect. Furthermore, it is advised to provide positive feedback, listen to them attentively and patiently, and in any case, to avoid embarrassing or challenging them.

Tips for effective communication with people suffering from dementia

Provide positive feedback during a conversation and through nonverbal cues, such as smile, touch, body language, etc.

Provide people with dementia with your full attention during conversation, neutralize background noises such as radio, television, or street noise, that may distract them.

Make eye contact with the people you speak with. Do not speak behind their back or when they are unable to see you.

Address them by their name, introduce yourself, or remind them who you are (even if you are a family member).

Use simple words and uncomplicated sentences. If you are still not understood, repeat your statement or question. If necessary, rephrase your statements.

Refrain from using a loud and threatening voice.

Preferably such that have simple and clear answers, such as "yes" or "no". For example, what would you like to wear, a white or blue shirt?”, and display the two shirts. If the person you speak with struggles to respond, attempt to assist them, and interpret their message through their reactions.

Since long term memory is usually retained better than short term memory among people with dementia, it is advisable to ask questions about their past and refrain from inquiring about recent days.

Which may worsen the sense of helplessness for both you and the person with dementia you talk with. Even if they are wrong in their reality perception and confuse past events with present ones, refrain from correcting them.

They may cause embarrassment and accentuate their memory loss. Instead of confronting your relatives with dementia symptoms such as memory loss, introduce them to people you meet, including family members and close acquaintances, and explain the role of things in a respectful and patient manner.

Do not say

Say instead

“Do you know who I am?”

“Hello, I am Rina, your daughter”

“Do you remember…?”

“Meet Neomi, the daughter of…”
"You just said that"

"Interesting, I didn't know"

“I have already heard that”

“Thank you for sharing it with me”

Related Services and Actions

Planning for Future Incompetence

Choosing a Nursing Care Institution

Organizations for People with Dementia

More Information