Communication: the Bouncing Balls workshop

Author:
MOORES-POOLE Helen
Journal article citation:
Journal of Dementia Care, 27(2), 2019, pp.18-20.
Publisher:
Hawker

One of the most frequently expressed frustrations for people with dementia is in understanding and being understood. This article describes how the NHS Dumfries and Galloway IDEAS Team (Interventions for dementia, education, assessment and support) have developed and implemented a workshop for home care staff that demonstrates the impact of communication difficulties on people with dementia. The workshop uses the catching of a ball to teach five key principles that act as the foundation for good communication and can be described as purposeful play. the article includes instructions on how to run the workshop and evaluate it. The five principles include: shared communication; body language; overloading people; outpacing people; and medical jargon. Evaluation of the workshops run by the IDEAS Team showed that, having completed the workshop, health and social care staff were able to: recall and explain the five key principles and to understand and explain how poor communication can contribute to stress and distress for themselves and person with dementia. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
case studies, communication, dementia, play, training, care workers, care homes;
Content type:
practice example
Location(s):
United Kingdom
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN print:
1351-8372

Key to icons

  • Free resource Free resource
  • Journal article Journal article
  • Book Book
  • Digital media Digital media
  • Journal Journal

Give us your feedback

Social Care Online continues to be developed in response to user feedback.

Contact us with your comments and for any problems using the website.

Sign up/login for more

Register/login to access resource links, advanced search and email alerts