What is life story work in dementia?

Everyone has their own life stories that shape us as individuals. Our life stories are varied, rich and used to communicate with the people around us. People with dementia often have problems communicating, hence the use of life story work as a way for them to communicate their histories and identities.

What is life story work?

Life story work is about understanding about the life a person has had, their life currently and what they wish to achieve in the future. It acts as a ‘fact file’ about a person with dementia, capturing their life stories. It has been recognised as a vital part of person-centred dementia care as it can be shared with other people such as healthcare professionals, family and friends.

There are no rules to life story work. It is about creating what suits you or your loved ones in whatever form that works the best for you. Some formats are:

Memory boxes that contain physical items which are particularly useful for those with sensory impairments or when in later stages of dementia, when there is more reliance of touch or small to communicate

Videos such as home videos or messages are a good way to record visual information for the person with dementia from their loved ones and care team, and vice versa.

There are many apps and programmes that can be downloaded to your devices, allowing you to share and save photos, videos and even places on a map.

A collage focuses on photos that encourage a person with dementia to reminisce and are particularly useful in the later stages of dementia when they are unable to read.

Having a personal profile, about a page long are useful for when the person goes to different care settings to help the staff understand a person’s needs.

There are many charities such as Dementia UK that have templates and guides that you could follow if you wish.

What is included in in a life story?

A life story is all encompassing and has no limits of boundaries. It can include things such as:

• Personal details such as the languages they speak, sexuality and gender preferences, religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs and routines and their values
• Occasions that they like to celebrate such as birthdays, anniversaries and religious festivals
• Significant relationships with families and friends
• Childhood and early life memories
• Significant places and memorable life events
• Dietary requirements and preferences
• Likes and dislikes with social activities, tv, programmes, music, their appearances
• Daily routines
• Physical and mental health conditions

If someone has had any traumatic or sad life events, it will still be useful to keep these separate, revisiting these events frequently can cause emotional distress or re-traumatisation. Having it separate will mean that the information can be used to identify if any changes in behaviour can be linked to specific events.

Benefits of life story work

A life story will allow for a more personalised care as there is better insight into how the person with dementia is feeling. The better you know someone, the better the care can be. It can be particularly helpful when the person has a new health care professional, is admitted into hospital or moving into a care home.

As it is about sharing important information, life story work can help a person with dementia to reflect that information and strengthen their sense of identity as well as bring comfort as they are being reminded of special memories. Encouraging them to reminisce can help to create closer relationships with family and friends and retrieve memories.

Tips for creating a life story

When trying to create a life story, it should be treated as a conversation rather than in an interview or interrogation manner. Always use positive prompts, never be pushy and follow the person’s lead in what they would like to tell you. It will be useful to start small and at any stage of life as it does not have to be linear or in a chronological order, jot any key points and gather golden moments as and when it is brought up. It can be as easy as looking through photos together as they can trigger memories.

Always remember to let them lead the conversation and get their account of the event or memories rather than correcting them and take it one topic at a time to complete their story. Expect that this will take weeks or even months to complete, while adding more information to keep it up to date and relevant. Try and get the whole family involved, even grandchildren as they are less cautious when asking questions but are genuinely interested and curious.

How can Cavendish Homecare help?

At Cavendish Homecare we can help support you and your loved ones with our expertise in delivering dementia care at home. We know that being diagnosed with Dementia can have a huge emotional, social, and psychological effect on both the person suffering and their family. Therefore we ensure specialist care in the comfort of one’s own home.

Contact or email us info@cavendishhomecare.com to see how we can assist you.