engleski

USE OF TACTILE STIMULATION IN PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA

The tactile system is the largest sensory system and plays a vital role in human behaviour. Touch receptors are found in our skin, but also in many other parts of our body. Everything that touches us can be stimulating. The skin contains many different receptors to receive the sensory experience of touch, pressure, surface, heat or cold, pain. One of the first roles of touch in human behaviour is to establish emotional adherence. Tactile impulses travel throughout the central nervous system and therefore touch is very important for a neural organization as a whole. Communication with the use oflanguage due to cognitive impairment in dementia impairs the sense of security because it represents a lack of understanding and frustration for the affected person. The need for touch increases as a person ages, because older people rarely get a chance to touch. Recent research shows that proper sensory stimulation can actually repair the brain and make new synaptic connections to grow. Nurses and technicians generally use touch when dressing, feeding, and bathing patients.But in the context of tactile communication, it is necessary to know how to categorize touch depending on the intention. Necessary touches are directed towards the performance of the task, while protective touch is when the patient is moved away and we prevent possible dangerous events. Expressive, comforting touches are situations where the nurse/ technician holds the patient's hand and affects the patient's emotional needs. Expressive touches are most commonly applied to the hands, fists, knees, and shoulders and are cited by most people as physically and emotionally pleasurable, probably because they are the most accessible and considered socially acceptable places to touch. The use of tactile stimulation in people with dementia alleviates and reduces 69 the incidence of symptoms such as anxiety, psychomotor restlessness and sleep disorder, and leads to an improvement in the quality of life of the person with dementia.

dementia ; nurse ; tactile communication ; touch.

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