Dementia: Getting rid of negative care terminology

A ‘Call to Action’ from campaign group, the Dementia Action Alliance (DAA), is gathering support for care providers around the country, looking to highlight the negative impact of poor language use when referring to adults with dementia.

Last month saw the launch of the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment project (which has quickly become known as DEEP), a campaign that challenges care providers to commit to ‘three Cs’ in order to support the use of more positive mental health language.

The three Cs ask that care companies: check the words and descriptions in their printed materials against the DEEP guide; change any terminology that people with dementia have identified as words to avoid; and to challenge words noted as ‘curl up and die’ words when they are heard in general society, which can include online and on TV.

Example words that people with dementia have confirmed to impact on their sense of self-worth and esteem include ‘demented’, ‘sufferer’, ‘senile’ and ‘living death’.

Home care provider Bluebird Care York is one of the latest agencies to announce their approval of the campaign’s objectives, with director Nicola Walden saying: “At Bluebird Care York, we’re supporting the Dementia Words campaign to improve the language that is used to describe people with dementia.

“We have signed up to the ‘Dementia Words Matter Call to Action’ and pledged to change any words and descriptions in our written materials that people with dementia have identified as ones to avoid. We also want to encourage others to join the Dementia Words challenge and take it forward in their own settings.”

By changing the day-to-day experiences of people with dementia it is hoped that DEEP can also educate people and reduce negative stereotyping.

For info, the DEEP guide can be downloaded here: http://dementiavoices.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DEEP-Guide-Language.pdf