Building Resilience in Persons with Early-Stage Dementia and Their Care Partners
The benefits of an early diagnosis of dementia are well documented. According to a 2015 Alzheimer’s Association policy brief, early detection and diagnosis offers a number of benefits for affected individuals and their families (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). Early detection and diagnosis allows people living with dementia to access available treatments when they are more likely to provide some benefit, build a care team, participate in support services, complete appropriate advanced directives, and enroll in clinical trials or engage in experimental types of treatment options. Further people who know they have the disease and their care partners can make additional financial and legal arrangements before they are deemed unable to do so. Early detection means that people may be diagnosed while still working or just as they are beginning to enjoy retirement and a period in life when their children have moved out of the home. Despite some of the advantages of an early diagnosis, knowledge of this diagnosis is still devastating to individuals and requires significant coping, resilience and support.
