Holistic Approaches for Dementia Patients Assignment Help

Select a health topic that you are interested in, and write a 4-5 page paper addressing the areas identified below for this activity.Clearly identifies the health topic:

Discuss the causes of and risk factors for the problem.

Provides data to support the magnitude of the problem. How many people die or get sick each year from this health problem? Is this a problem that affects women? If so are there any differences in its impact on men vs. women? Are there ethnic, racial, or economic class variations? What is the yearly cost of this problem?Identifies current treatment measures:

Discusses the current treatments for the problem?

How effective is the treatment? Discuss any barriers to treatment such as side effects or high cost.

Identifies strategies to promote healthy lifestyles:

Identifies wellness behaviors to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Provides at least 2 web resources for information on the health problem.

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Introduction

Although there are ranges of mental health problems currently facing by the global population, among them, dementia can be considered as one of the most common issue, which is the main point of discussion in this assignment. The assignment sheds light on the risk factors of dementia, its statistics, current treatment provisions, the effectiveness, and recommends some strategies for promoting healthy lifestyle among the affected population.

Classification of the health issue

Risk factors

From the initiation of the human science, it is proved that every human being would undergo though some basic stages of memory loss along with the increasing number of their age. However, although it is natural, but there are some cases, in which the phase of memory loss becomes worsened and the people face several challenges in recalling or memorising things. This worsened phase is termed as dementia. As per the statement of Tilburgs et al. (2018), dementia can be defined as a process of reducing mental skills and capacities, along with the progressive phases of memory loss, which can affect the daily activities, the capacity of thinking or planning, and so on. At present, it is very common among the older adults, especially after the age of 70, however, the severity of the issue depends on various biological or non-biological risk factors, some of which are as follows-

- Growing up age factors

- Genetics or family disorders

- Alcohol abuse or smoking

- Artherosclerosis

- Cholesterol

- Plasma Homocysteine

- Diabetes

- Mild cognitive impairment

- Depression

- Social isolation (Risk Factors, 2019)

Statistical information

Dementia can be considered as one of the main reasons behind the mental disability as well as dependence of the older population throughout the world. According to the report of World Health Organisation, there are around 50 million affected people living in the world, along with having 10 million new dementia cases per year. At present, the total number of dementia patient is estimated as 47 million, which would reach up to around 75 million within the year 2030 (10 facts on dementia, 2019) [Refer to Appendix]. As mentioned earlier, the disease mainly affects the older population; and there is no certain gender discrimination in this case. However, in different countries, it is generally observed that since women's average living age is higher compared to the men, therefore, they are more exposable to the condition of memory loss and dementia.

For example, in UK, around 61% women are undergoing this phase, whereas the percentage of dementia affected men population is only 39% (Dementia Facts - Dementia Consortium, 2019). Apart from the gender discrimination, there are some racial disparities also could be observed having relevant connection with the stages of dementia. As per the report of Alzheimer's Association, African-Americans are more exposed towards the disease compared to the older Hispanics and Whites. From a study conducted over 2351 members, belong from 90+ age group, it is reported that 50% affected population was women, along with including 72% White, 16% African-American, 7% Asian-American, and 4% Latino (AAIC 2018, 2018). As reported by WHO, in the year 2015, the total global dementia cost was estimated around US$818 billion, which is equal to 1.1% global GDP (Dementia, 2019).

Identification of the Current treatment measures

Current treatment and its effectiveness

After discussing about the prevalence of dementia on the modern population, it is required to understand the types of treatment present and its effectiveness on the people's lives. As per the statement of Chalfont et al. (2018), dementia does not have any reserved symptoms and occurring age, therefore, the diagnosis and treatment might be challenging for the health experts. Therefore, health experts often try to understand the impaired activities, ability losing patterns, and the areas of deterioration. Through considering the recent scientific advancement, biomarkers can be used for the diagnosis of the dementia patients. Apart from this, there are certain other tests for evaluating the cognitive functionality, such as neuropsychological tests, like memory evaluation, orientation testing, language skills, attention, reasoning and judgement, and so on. Apart from this, different brain tests, such as MRI, CT scan, PET scan, different laboratory testing, and psychiatric evaluation could be performed for the dementia affected population (Baker & Irving, 2016).

As the medicated treatment provisions, there are no certain specific medications which can prevent the dementia stages properly, however, some drugs might help in reducing the impacts on brain. Some commonly used drugs for dementia are given in the following table-

Although these medicines are used for reducing the impacts of dementia, however, all of them have certain side effects on the health of aged population, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, depression, hallucinations, agitation, and sleep disturbances. Therefore, since the medication impacts are not well-proved, therefore, different alternative holistic therapies are also applied for the dementia affected population, such as-

- Occupational therapy, including different cognitive skills and coping behaviour

- Modifying the environment, through reducing external noise and enhancing safety parameters

- Cognitive stimulation therapy, supporting in memorisation, language learning, and problem-solving

- Music therapy, which includes listening to calm and soothing music

- Massage therapy or Physiotherapy, including massage of different body parts by some clinical equipment

- Aromatherapy, in which different fragrances are used for mind refreshment

- Pet therapy, involving relational development of preferable pet choices, such as dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and so on (Dementia - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic, 2019)

Identification of strategies for promoting healthy lifestyle

Although dementia is a kind of non-treatable disease and it would enhance along with the going age, however, for reducing its impacts on the daily lives, the following holistic strategies can be applied-

- Enhancement in communication- The dementia people requires enhanced communication and interaction with the people residing in their surrounding environment, which would be better for improving their memorising capacity.

- Encouragement of exercise- Developing an exercise regimen would improve their cardiovascular strength and help in refreshing mind (Robertshaw & Cross, 2019).

- CAM treatment- Taking different herbal remedies and vitamin supplements would help in promoting brain functionality.

- Engagement in different activities- Planning different activities as per the age, such as dancing, cooking, gardening, and singing, would help improving their cognitive abilities.

- Establishment of a night-time ritual- Scheduling a time for bet-time medication would help the aged people in eliminating the stresses.

- Keeping a logbook or calendar- Maintaining a logbook or small table calendar would help in memorising the smaller daily activities by self.

- Planning for future- Developing different plans with the family members or friends might reduce the mental stress factors and help in coping with the adversities faced due to dementia (Dementia - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic, 2019).

Conclusion

After considering the entire facts about dementia, it can be stated that from the birth of a child to the death, mental health plays critical roles, as it is the main controller of the psychological, social, and emotional well-being standards. Therefore, it is obvious that if one person experiences issues in the mental health factors, such as in memorisation or cognitive ability, then their life would be adversely affected. Hence, it can be stated that it is necessary to provide attention on the dementia symptoms from the initiation stage, as early diagnosis and holistic treatment often prevents the occurrence of worsened condition at the later age.

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