Comforting the Confused

"How to comfort? How to help?" are questions often asked by persons providing care to individuals suffering from dementia. According to Hoffman and Platt—a warm smile, gentle touch, and soothing voice tone can help toward improving quality of life.

The authors believe caregivers should be encouraged to emphasize non-verbal aspects of their communication throughout their daily care of the demented. Hoffman and Platt provide research-based, practical guidelines for communicating with dementia patients and offer strategies for responding to depression, aggression, wandering, and other behavioral problems. New to the Second edition are chapters addressing:

• Feeding strategies
• Falls and Use of Mechanical Restraints
• Special Care Units
• Dying and Grieving

The book contains black-and-white illustrations.

Stephanie B. Hoffman, PhD, is the Director of Interprofessional Team Training and Development and Primary Care Education at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Hoffman is a life-span developmental psychologist. She has received funded grants to study the communication and management aspects of dementia, geriatric depression, feeding behavior in nursing-home residents, special care units, and restraint alternatives. At the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Dr. Hoffman has trained hundreds of students and staff in the following disciplines: nursing, medicine, psychiatry, public health, medical records, pharmacy, podiatry, social work, speech pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, dietetics, physical therapy, and other associated health disciplines. Dr. Hoffman has conducted workshops on dementia management and team training throughout the country. She has published in the areas of geropsychology, dementia, team building, and nonverbal communication, and has written and edited several dementia-management books.

Constance A. Platt, MA, is a geropsychologist at the Binghamton Psychiatric Center in Binghamton, New York. Mrs. Platt conducts psychological assessments of psychiatric and dementia residents, practices individual and group psychotherapy, advises on the development of treatment plans, assists the interdisciplinary team on resident management issues, and has participated as a member of a geriatric mobile screening team. She teaches medical and psychology students and conducts nursing home inservice training sessions on dementia management and other long-term-care issues. Mrs. Platt serves as a consultant to nursing homes on the management of problem behaviors. She has received funded grants to study nonverbal communication and dementia and the impact of staff training on resident management, and she has published in these areas.