Living and dying with dementia

• Provides a critical, conceptual look at dementia (as opposed to a practical guide), taking an unusual narrative approach
• Introduces personal accounts, either from patients or those caring for them, that offer a different perspective to that of the professional
• Includes examples of care initiatives
• Seeks to build an ethics of care
• Explores the interaction of individual experience and social context
• Considers what a good death with dementia might look like
• Contains numerous photographs of people living with dementia

Readership: The book will be valuable to palliative care practitioners, general practitioners and Macmillan nurses, particularly those who are involved in community nursing and nursing homes, and other health care professionals such as social and care workers who come into contact with dying patients in residential settings. It should also appeal to geriatricians and policy makers. Directors/administrators of residential and nursing homes will also find it a useful source of information. The narrative approach, using literature and photographs, also makes this book accessible to those without a clinical background in dementia.

Neil Small, Professor of Health Research, University of Bradford, UK, Katherine Froggatt, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, UK, and Murna Downs, Professor of Dementia Studies, University of Bradford, UK

"This is a work that will be a major influence in dementia and the authors are to be congratulated for illuminating the way forward." - Physical Therapy Reviews

"The authors consider many strands of living with or caring for people with dementia. The philosophical arguments concerning 'quality of life' are riveting and present a compelling discussion of what an individual's life is worth. The book should be read by everyone." - Medical Book Awards

"I, for one, often feel inadequate when confronted with a patient with significant dementia, because so much of what I am used to doing relies on two-way communication. This book explores what is known about the experience of dying with dementia, including accounts from patients and carers...a useful resource for those who deal with patients with dementia and for palliative care workers whose practice brings them into contact with these patients." - Roger Woodruff

1: Introduction
2: The life-world: journeys with dementia
3: Developments in service provision
4: Self and autonomy
5: Quality of care and quality of life
6: The 'good death' and dementia
7: Looking forward