Abstract

The term person centred care has been widely used, misused and ill defined. It is used frequently in the aims and objectives for dementia care services and provision, although in practice what lies behind the rhetoric can be questionable. This book gives fresh definition to the important ideas behind and the implementation of person centred care for people with dementia.

Dawn Brooker explains the four key elements of person centred care that comprise the VIPS model: Valuing people with dementia and those who care for them (V); treating people as Individuals (I); looking at the world from the Perspective of the person with dementia (P); and a positive Social environment in which the person living with dementia can experience relative well being (S). With an emphasis on practical application, Person Centred Dementia Care provides care organisations with clear, accessible guidelines on how to put the VIPS model into operation for effective care that is `fit for VIPs'. Part 2 of the book comprises the VIPS organisational reflection tool, which care providers can use to assess how well they think they are doing at providing person-centred care.

This will be essential reading for practitioners working with and policy makers responsible for people with dementia at all levels.

The book is a very valuable resource for health and social care professionals looking to find out more about person-centred dementia care.
Journal of Interprofessional Care

The background to person-centred care is covered in depth, from the viewpoint of the Bradford Dementia Group and the late Tom Kitwood. It asks searching questions of readers. For example: "is there an atmosphere of warmth and acceptance to service users?" This straight-talking approach sets out what is acceptable.

Dawn Brooker's framework for person-centred care involves value base, individualised approach, and perspectives of the service user and social environment. She provides standard statements or indicators that can be used to compare the care setting with best practice. This is an outstanding book.

Nursing Standard

The author identifies four elements of person-centred dementia care. These are valuing the person, taking an individualised approach, understanding the person's perspective; and the social environment. Author Dawn Brooker describes in concrete terms what each of these concepts means and how they can be assessed. She also outlines the potential consequences when each of the elements is either neglected or emphasised at the cost of others.

Anyone who has been to a care home will empathise with Brookers' analysis of how a resident's feelings can be brought down by careless staff behaviours and how good examples of good practice can be similarly inspiring…This book will stimulate essential thought and debate amongst all who work with vulnerable people.'

Involve
The most useful chapter is that on the social environment. This contrasts examples of interactions that are negative and unconducive to person-centred care with other, practical ways that treat people with dementia with compassion and respect. There are also some useful questions throughout the book to help people collect evidence on whether the care they are delivering is indeed person-centred, and a VIPs framework tool is included to support the systematic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of practice in this respect.
Mental Health Today
Dawn Brooker is Professor of Dementia Care Practice and Research at the Bradford Dementia Group, University of Bradford. She has twenty years' academic and clinical experience of working in the field of dementia, during which her particular research interest has been the improvement of quality of life and of services for people with dementia.
This is a very readable book and one I would recommend to health care chaplains of all kinds... The book is about staff as well as people with dementia and can apply in any setting. It is probably an important book for health care chaplains, particularly those who see themselves as chaplain to the organisation. This book shows how difficult it can be to provide to be provide person centred loving and appropriate care in organisations. It also gives the direction of travel for health care chaplains who are chaplains for the whole organisation. I would highly recommend this work.
Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy

Person-Centred Dementia Care would be useful in any occupational therapy service that is aimed at the care of older people, where some or all of their clients are experiencing the effects of dementia on their lives. The book will act as a refresher for practitioners and an introduction for students. It looks at the revolutionary work of Tom Kitwood in the filed of dementia care as well as that of John Killick and Kate Allan. The book, though brief, is a thorough revisit of their themes about the design of good care for people with dementia. It goes on to expand on the four elements and how these may be identified in day-to-day practice. It is written clearly and with the economy of language.

This book would be especially useful in a service undergoing review of development, perhaps involving a multi-disciplinary team. For occupational therapists in a community setting it offers a way of evaluating services available locally for clients to judge their sustainability for individuals…Themes are developed in a concise way with illustrations and background information to allow the reader to stay in touch with what is being discussed. The book achieves its aims of examining person-centred dementia care and providing a model by which to judge its application in the field. It would be an economical and useful addition in a department.

Occupational Therapy for Older People
Professor Brooker's book is a welcome and fitting tribute to the outstanding legacy of her late colleague and mentor, Tom Kitwood, and the continuing pioneering work of the Bradford Dementia Group. For such a small book it certainly packs a punch and is both informative and thought-provoking. It is easy to follow and clearly written, and gives the reader definitions of the important ideas behind patient-centred care, and their implementation in the care of people with dementia... This book is essential reading and comes highly recommended for anybody working with people with dementia and their carers, including policy makers, professionals and service providers at all levels.
British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing