Title: Reflecting on the therapeutic value of telling lies to patients with Dementia.
Abstract:
Wholetruth, untruths and lies was an ethnographic study of communication between professional caregivers and people with dementia, which lead to the development of a Taxonomy of Lies and the Lie ARM (Affective Reflective Model). The aim of the two tools, is to help people reflect on their communication practices and consider if the lies that they tell are therapeutic. The Taxonomy helps people to think about specific elements of their communication in an objective way. The Lie ARM then prompts them to think about how the communication was made; was it genuine? What was the motivation? Did it validate the patients’ emotions? It is the affective domains that have ultimately been shown to have the biggest impact on the receiver, that is, the person with dementia. Motivation and genuineness are key elements in validating a person’s emotions and delivering a therapeutic interaction.
This presentation will discuss the key themes in the Taxonomy of Lies and demonstrate how the Lie ARM can be used to develop practice by meeting the needs of people with dementia in a kinder, more person-centred way.
