Risk and dementia

Risk is an inherent part of our day-to-day lives, and we will make decisions about taking, or not taking certain risks almost without being aware of it (e.g. taking a car journey or crossing a road). We take for granted our ability to assess and negotiate these daily risks, allowing us to live our lives with a balance of taking risks, maintaining our safety, and our quality of life. However, when someone is diagnosed with dementia, there is often an immediate question placed over their capacity to make decisions for themselves, including those about taking risks (Dickins et al, 2018). As such, people with dementia may find themselves subject to overly cautious decisions made on their behalf, which can have a negative impact on their quality of life.

Dementia is encountered frequently in community nursing settings, with an estimated 994 000 people in the UK currently living with this condition (Wittenberg et al, 2019). Dementia is a set of symptoms caused by progressive neurological changes in the brain, including declining cognitive function, problems with memory and recall, language and personality, as well as social changes (Sandilyan and Dening, 2019). There are many causes of dementia, the most common being Alzheimer's disease, but with vascular dementia, mixed dementia (usually Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia), dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia – all being seen frequently as well (Cullum and Taye, 2020). Dementia has an impact, not just on the person diagnosed with the condition, but also on the wider family unit. There are currently around 700 000 family carers looking after someone with dementia (Lewis et al, 2014), and a growing understanding of the importance of working within a family-centred model of care for the healthcare professional (HCP) to effectively support this group of people well (Dening and Hibberd, 2016).