Creative Activity in Dementia Care

Different types of dementia have been identified as well as their creative approaches. Applying creativity through activities is one of the potential inhibitor for personal growth as well as spiritual and emotional adjustments in life at large. Dementia is an intense deterioration or a state of losing an intellectual capacity and personality fitness to the community due to damaged brains and specifically the neurons in the brains. The intellectual ability of a person in this case is said to be lost and this could be memory, the act of self-management and ability to solve problems. It is said to be a progressive decline on a person’s functionality. Stroke is said to be the second most of the cause of dementia after damage to brain cells.

Dementia could also be caused by a deficiency of vitamin B12. In this case, vessels that are supplying blood to the brain are damaged and this could led to poor flow of oxygenated blood to the brain or even lack of flow of blood to the brain. The brain cannot work without blood and that’s why the blood vessels are linked up to the brain for it to function properly. A brain without blood is like something that is of no value, that is, not functional. The first stage is the one indicating that there is no dementia at all and the person functions normally without losing memory and is healthy when it comes to mental capacity. The second one is said to be a very mild cognitive decline whereby there is normal forgetfulness that is associated with getting old and this could be for instance the act of forgetting names of people.

The third one is that of a mild cognitive decline whereby this stage includes loss of concentration and a decrease in work performance. The other stage is the moderate cognitive decline whereas there is difficulty in the concentration of a person as well as difficulty in terms of managing funds. There is also a difficulty in travelling alone to new places as it is difficult to trace the destination. Creative activities have a great impact in dementia as the brain is reinforced to encounter a problem and come out with a possible solution and come out of the act of resisting. Among the creative activities that consider the impact and effectiveness in dementia is theatre and dementia. Spare Tyre has tried to come up and justify this work based on theatre and dementia.

Spare Tyre is an organization that inspires the activity of theatre and dementia. Spare Tyre makes theatre as well as uses it to aid the unvoiced communities in the society as well as individuals with an aim of sharing and appreciating their stories that are not told and this leads to change of lives as well as challenging opinions. They can also be provided with a place to plant seeds and water them as they watch them grow. People with dementia will enjoy harvesting, arranging flowers and even preparing vegetables. (Camic). This activity creates a good coordination between the eyes and the hands and through this their functionality increases. It also teaches on how various aspects can be brought into interactions, that is both individual and group interactions.

I thought it wise to help him to be more creative despite his condition he was living with after the depression. I involved him in an activity of doing puzzles. I could bring different types of puzzles including the jigsaw puzzles for him to do and he could actually manage a number of puzzles. Though he enjoyed doing the puzzles, sometimes he could get bored to them because at times I could engage him in too many puzzles and so I learnt to limit or rather reduce the number of puzzles to reduce boredom and even make him enjoy the activity. It could engage him both physically and psychologically. After the activity I could just hang his best colorings on the wall of his house and this could be a reminder to him on how he is such a talent.

This could increase his self-esteem as well as memory. We made some beautiful flowers using paper. I could give him some cardboard templates for him and give him some time with them and actually he could cut out beautiful colored paper shapes and after that I could help him join the shapes together to create a beautiful paper flower. After doing one more, he was ready to go and he could do some more by himself. Music is a way to calm a person down when one is anxious. (Raglio) Music comforted him and made him happy. He could feel a sense of accomplishment as I used to clean around his house and wipe the table. We could tend the garden too and cook recipes together and more specifically the mist simple ones.

Application of music and art therapy has positive outcomes and has given hope to many as we see our loved ones being happy and enjoying the life they are in despite the fact that they have challenges and especially to this condition of dementia. (Woods). Creativity reinforces the morale of a person as it changes on how they respond to their problems and maintaining a focused perspective hence being emotionally responsive. Creativity opens a unique sense of feeling, acting and willing. This helps them to understand their feelings and the way they will respond hence stimulating them. Creativity keeps one mentally active in a lifetime with an aim if ensuring a mental and physical wellness. M. , & Tischler, V. The impact of community-based arts and health interventions on cognition in people with dementia: A systematic literature review.