• To enhance your understanding of how therapeutic communication can reduce levels of distress as well as behaviour that challenges among people with dementia
• To be aware of the common, but often ignored, communication strategy of lie telling with people who have dementia and its associated moral, ethical and professional dilemmas
• To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers)
• To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)
This article identifies the importance of effective communication in delivering care to people living with dementia when their understanding of the situation may differ to ours. The Newcastle Model’s biopsychosocial framework is revisited to understand the context in which caregiving takes place, and the article goes on to consider the importance of communication to person-centred care delivery. The special case of lie telling or ‘therapeutic untruths’ as a communication tool is considered as an often essential way to join with the person’s reality, and the practical and ethical dilemmas this poses are considered.
Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2020.e1206
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondencelouisa.jackman@manchester.ac.uk
Conflict of interestNone declared
Jackman L (2020) Extending the Newcastle Model: how therapeutic communication can reduce distress in people with dementia. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2020.e1206
Published online: 22 January 2020
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