Healing Arts Therapies and Person-Centred Dementia Care

Anthea Innes has recently began work as a research fellow at the Centre for Social Research on Dementia, University of Stirling. Prior to this she was a lecturer with Bradford Dementia Group and continues to be involved in ethnicity and dementia research with BDG. Karen Hatfield is the director of Healing Arts Therapies at University Hospitals Health System - Heather Hill Hospital and Health Partnership. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in music therapy from Temple University.

• 1. Introduction, Roseann E. Kasayka.2. From the Heart into Art: Person-centred Art Therapy, Holly Queen.3. Dance/Movement Therapy: Partners in Personhood, Liat R Shustik and Tria Thompson. 4. Principles of Person-Centred Care in Music Therapy, Karen Hatfield and Natalie McClune. 5. Conclusion, Roseann E. Kasayka, Karen Hatfield and Anthea Innes. References. Index.

I have long been a fan of this series of texts which do exactly "what they say on the tin", i.e. provide "jargon free guidance to carers of people with dementia". Person Centred Care and associated therapies are becoming increasingly recognised as playing a key role in the management of persons with dementia and have done much to shift thinking away from the traditional medical model towards more eclectic, holistic treatment... The editors have shown considerable skill in assembling a short series of articles from skilled therapists into an accessible guide suitable for all professional and informal carers... Many readers will find this an excellent introduction to untried areas of therapy and the excellent referencing is commendable... I would recommend this book to all professional careers in the field of dementia and also to bodies such as Age Concern and the Alzheimer's Disease Society who advise informal carers... This book should also be compulsory reading for all those who commission care for people with dementia at whatever level.