Abstract

Dementia is a devastating disorder which may dramatically interfere with decision-making abilities. Effort has focused on trying to determine when a person is no longer capable of making particular decisions or is globally incompetent. However, much less focus has been placed on understanding how the capacity to make decisions influences one's view of oneself, one's world and one's treatment by others. This book aims to broaden discussion around this issue by moving beyond a focus on notions of capability and competence to explore the importance of personhood and the underlying complexities of decision-making for those with dementia.

Based on papers from the Centre for Research on Personhood in Dementia (CRPD) workshop, experts in dementia care, law, ethics and philosophy discuss the interface between dementia, personhood and decision-making. Drawing on a wide range of interdisciplinary and international perspectives, the book forges new understandings of relationships between everyday, informal decision-making and more formal biomedical or legal processes for assessing competence.

This collection of papers provides an in-depth understanding of decision-making in relation to dementia for researchers, healthcare practitioners, service providers, legal professionals and anyone with an interest in personhood in dementia care.

A book that could and should radically affect the understanding and care of people with dementia across the globe.
Plus Magazine - Christian Council on Ageing (CCOA)
The book appears to be unique in the way that it draws together a wide range of different chapters offering perspectives and insights from the health and social sciences and legal domains. The editors and authors are to be congratulated on a successful contribution to the literature. The book is readable and illuminating and it will be rewarding reading for a wide range of thinkers, practitioners and policy makers.
Ethics and Social Welfare.
This book will be of interest to readers who are concerned by the issue of decicion-making in the context of dementia... this collection provides a robust contribution to developing an understanding of decision-making in relation to people living with dementia.
The Journal of Ageing & Society
This book is vital reading for all health and social care professionals who work with people with dementia. I have already made it recommended reading for Best Interest Assessors training on the module that I teach at the University of the West of England. Professionals and academics who work with adults with conditions, other than dementia, that affect capacity need to conduct comparable work to ensure that similar evidence for the maximising of opportunities to decide can be promoted.
Practice: Social Work in Action
I'd like to think this might become compulsory reading for all doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and other clinicians working in the field, as well as lawyers who have begun to find more calls to their expertise.
Dementia Plus