Abstract

The award-winning PEARL (Positively Enriching and enhancing Residents' Lives) programme was developed to enable care homes to move from providing good fundamental care to excellent person-centred dementia care. Trialled extensively by one of the UK's largest care providers, it has been proven to dramatically increase the quality of life of people with dementia living in care homes, significantly reducing the use of antipsychotics and the incidence of stress-related behaviours.

This concise and accessible guide, written by the Director of Dementia Care at the care provider which trialled and developed PEARL, describes the key criteria of the programme, and provides best practice guidelines for dementia care practitioners wishing to use the approach in their own care home. With an emphasis on the practical, achievable elements of the programme, and drawing on many useful examples, the author and contributors provide guidelines on, amongst many things, getting the fundamentals of person-centred care right; enabling decision-making; reducing stress-related behaviours; psychosocial treatments; safeguarding; supporting staff; and involving relatives.

An engaging and accessible book, which provides a 'can do' perspective on the delivery of person-centred dementia care. This book provides practical examples and scenarios to help care providers think through best practice approaches to a range of everyday and more complex situations. As such it is a must-have book for anyone providing care for people living with dementia.
Dr Claire Surr, Reader in Dementia Studies, Bradford Dementia Group, University of Bradford, UK
Caroline Baker is Director of Dementia Care at Four Seasons Health Care. She was a Consultant Trainer in Dementia Care Mapping and Person-Centred Care at Bradford Dementia Group, Bradford University. Her previous roles were Clinical Nurse Specialist in Dementia Care for Walsall Primary Care Trust, Independent Social Services Liaison Nurse for Walsall Community Health and Home Manager at The ExtraCare Charitable Trust. She has written many articles for the Journal of Dementia Care and Caring Times, and has contributed to a book on Dementia Care Mapping for Hawker Publications. In 2013 she won the Lifetime Achievement in Dementia Care at the 4th National Dementia Care Awards. She lives in Staffordshire, UK.
Our ultimate goal should always be to positively enrich and enhance the life of people living with dementia. Caroline has made achieving this possible through this very practical and step-by-step guide to implementing a person centered care approach. Based on her many years of hands-on experience and extensive work within the dementia care field, this is a 'must have' for anyone rendering care. Highly recommended!
Karen Borochowitz, Executive Director at the Dementia SA Team, South Africa
This book is a real pearl. It's full of practical, down to earth ways of helping people and their families get the most out of life in their care home. It's written by compassionate people who have years of experience and who have thought carefully about how to make things better. There is something for everyone to learn from them.
Professor Dawn Brooker PhD CPsychol (clin) AFBPsS, Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester
This is a 'must-read' for anyone involved with the care of the elderly living with dementia including therapists working with this client group. Caroline Baker's project, POSITIVELY ENRICH AND ENHANCE RESIDENTS LIVES (PEARL) has transformed the lives of residents in those care homes which have 'signed up' to the PEARL programme... Caroline Baker has left no stone unturned to create a 'step-by-step' guide for care staff and therapists to adopt the PEARL approach, thereby ensuring that each resident living with dementia is treated with person-centred care and best practice approaches, resulting in 'excellent care for people living with dementia in care homes.'
Alice Allen, Dramatherapist
The Prompt - British Association of Dramatherapists (BADTH) Magazine