Caregiver 4 Caregivers - Problem Behaviours

Problem Behaviours

Between 80% – 90% of those with Alzheimer’s will develop some behavioral symptoms.

Awareness and management of difficult behaviors by the Caregiver becomes an important means of dealing with stress and easing tension between the care receiver and the caregiver. For the sufferer these behaviors are an effort to communicate that something is wrong, not an effort to be difficult. Dementia is a progressive, increasingly debilitating illness. Therefore, the treatment must adjust to the individual, rather than be seen as a concrete set of rules that will remain unchanged over time. Each individual is impacted differently, with the loss of function in no straight line. In other words, any attempt to devise one program of standardized care for Dementia would be the same as deciding that everyone diagnosed with cancer should have exactly the same treatment.

... DISCLAIMER ...
There is no hard and fast answer to addressing a problem behaviour.
The following information is provided as a tool to help the Caregiver find the solution that works for situation they are faced with.

Problem behaviors have as their basis two sets of factors:

Internal factors:	External factors:
Such as a sense of feeling threatened, loss of control, loss of previous structure, frustration with tasks that exceed ability, misinterpretation of the behavior of others, fatigue, impaired perceptions, pain, the effects of medication.	Including: the physical environment, the approach of the caregiver, environmental stimulation.

In each of the behaviour pages shown provides

Possible Causes - Physiological or Medical
Coping strategies - that may assist in finding a solution that suits the situation each individual caregiver may face.
and list some additional Research and Reference materials

Problem Behaviours

Problem behaviors have as their basis two sets of factors:

Internal factors: