Risk averse carers hasten dementia decline

Focussing only on keeping people with dementia physically safe can actually contribute to the person’s decline and result in the unnecessary loss of a person’s skills. Carers, family and even some health practitioners may unwittingly be behaving in ways that can cause ‘silent harms” for people with dementia in their efforts to help them live with the condition, argues Professor Charlotte Clarke of the University of Edinburgh.”Focussing only on the physical safety of someone with dementia can result in the person’s psychological and social wellbeing being neglected or ‘silently harmed’,” says Professor Clarke. “Being too risk averse in one’s approach