Talking Mats™ and Families living with Dementia Dr Joan Murphy Stirling, Scotland © Talking Mats...

Talking Mats™ and Families living with Dementia

Dr Joan MurphyStirling, Scotland

© Talking Mats Limited 2014

Plan

• Research underpinning Talking Mats

• Health and Well-being Resource

• Family training

• Sessions 1 and 2

• Discussions

• Personal stories

• Future plans© Talking Mats Limited 2014

Improve the quality of life for those living with dementia• Danger of negative, stigmatising language

• “Battle against dementia”• “The fight against dementia”• “Dementia is a ticking bomb”• “Win the war on dementia”• “One of greatest enemies of humanity”

(Cameron G7 dementia legacy event)

• Positive aspects of living with dementiawww.livingwelldementia.org


http://www.livingwelldementia.org/

Top Scale

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Topic

Talking Mats ResearchFunded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation

1. How effective is Talking Mats for people with dementia at different stages?

Murphy J. Gray C M, Cox S, van Achterberg T, Wyke S (2010) The effectiveness of the Talking Mats Framework with People with Dementia. Dementia : International Journal of Social research and Practice 9(4) 454-472

2. Talking Mats and Involvement in Decision Making for People with Dementia & Family Carers

Murphy, J., & Oliver, T.M. (2013) Health & Social Care in the Community 21(2), 171–180


Project 1• People with early/moderate stage dementia use Talking

Mats effectively and more reliably than both verbal conversation types

• In late stage dementia, Talking Mats are more effective than usual conversation but not necessarily reliable

• Talking Mats reduces • Distractibility• Perseveration


Project 2Talking Mats may:• help people with dementia and their family

carers to jointly discuss and make decisions about how people are managing daily living issues

• make the acceptance of care easier

• have significance for Care Home, Social Service and Health staff in providing services


New Resources


• Bespoke symbols• Comic artist• TM team• People with communication difficulties

• Health and well-being resource (based on WHO-ICF)

Health and Well-being


Family Training• Donation from Miss Hendry Charitable

Trust and support from Alzheimer Scotland • Training offered in different Alzheimer

Scotland Resource Centres• Free • Small numbers• Timed to suit with care• Time to discuss sensitive issues• Staff support


Family Training• Session 1:

• Background• Demonstration• DVD examples• Hands on practice• Own mats and Symbol sets• Discussion of topics to be used at home with

their relative and planning for next session

• Session 2: sharing their own personal stories of using Talking Mats


Feedback at session 1• This was a very positive course today. It has made me feel

very hopeful about establishing a time of coherent dialogue with my mother – albeit in a focused way and also in providing a tool for her to communicate in a simple way, her own thoughts, Thank you.

• Can’t wait to try it with my wife. Thank you.

• I’m looking forward to trying it out and hearing how the others coped and what the outcomes will be.

• This was a very informative day and hopefully gives us a great way of communicating to find out my husband’s views on subjects.


Feedback at Session 2


Discussions• Giving control to the person with

dementiaParticipants felt that using Talking Mats enabled them to keeping their language simple, to ask open questions and use symbols which all helped to give control to the person

•“Reducing my language made me become invisible and the other person became centre stage”•“He grew in his understanding”•“I found out a lot in a short space of time”•“The symbols are a great gateway to understanding”


• The difficulty of being so close emotionally to relativeSome people felt it was difficult to ask their relative’s views because they knew them so well. It was suggested that in some situations it might help if a member of staff used Talking Mats with person with dementia rather than family member

• “There is a fine line because I know him so well”

• “Maybe I’m too close to him© Talking Mats Limited 2014

What if the person with dementia thinks things are fine when the relative thinks they are not?

•“You don’t want to trample on his respect but you have to be honest”•“I don’t want to get on at him”•“Whose problem is it anyway?”


Sub-mats

Comments• Small changes made a big difference

• It gives me time to sit down and listen to him

• It slows you down which is needed with someone with dementia

• It helps me know where he is at the moment

• It showed my husband the things he CAN do rather than what he CAN’T do


Personal stories• Radio (turn it off)• Toothache (dental appointment)• Tasteless food (add more spice) • Weekly mood mat

• ”He always feels up after he’s done a Talking Mat”

• Demonstrations to others• Uncovering health issues

• “We got a load of information about how she was feeling”.


Future plans• Relatives:

• Using Talking Mats regularly to monitor mood, any changes in health, ideas for activities…

• using Talking Mats to show the views of the person with dementia to care home staff

• using Talking Mats for review meetings• using Talking Mats on themselves to show

the person with dementia see what they are feeling


• Alzheimer Resource Centres:• setting up Talking Mats relatives groups to give

people more practice• supporting relatives in individual use of Talking

Mats• using Talking Mats in group situations

• All:• developing new topic sets• using the Talking Mats app version• More training


Keeping in touch

Free stuff: http://www.talkingmats.com/research-consultancy/free-stuff-communication-disability/

Blog: http://www.talkingmats.com/category/blog/

Research and consultancy: http://www.talkingmats.com/research-consultancy/


Talking Mats™ and Families living with Dementia Dr Joan Murphy Stirling, Scotland © Talking Mats...

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