Person-centred care for people with dementia: Kitwood reconsidered
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Person-centred care for people with dementia: Kitwood reconsidered

Gary Mitchell Dementia care adviser, Four Seasons Health Care, Irish Regional Office, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Joanne Agnelli Dementia services quality manager, Four Seasons Health Care, Irish Regional Office, Belfast, Northern Ireland

There is a plethora of literature on person-centred care and its importance in health care. The principles of person-centred care are especially important for people living with dementia because of the clinical manifestations of the disease. This article intends to provide nurses with an overview of the work of Tom Kitwood and how it pertains to providing best practice in dementia care. Various person-centred theories have been developed. However, Kitwood’s work is by far the most widely referred to in dementia care. An understanding of Kitwood’s ideas, in particular those of malignant social psychology and positive person work, enables nurses to develop competence in delivering optimum person-centred care to people with dementia in clinical practice.

Nursing Standard. 30, 7, 46-50. doi: 10.7748/ns.30.7.46.s47

Correspondence

gary.mitchell@fshc.co.uk

Peer review

All articles are subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software.

Received: 28 August 2014

Accepted: 04 September 2014

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