Lesson 1. Eating and drinking - more pleasant mealtimes

Making mealtimes more pleasant

Your Health

Elderly Care and Healthy Ageing

Geriatric Services

Dementia Support

Providing Everyday Care

Lesson 1. Eating and drinking - more pleasant mealtimes

Making mealtimes more pleasant

Making mealtimes more pleasant

Engaging people with dementia in simple tasks around mealtime helps to make the most of people’s skills, promote feelings of self-worth, and enjoy the mealtime.

Let’s look at an example

Sabah was a housewife and cooked every day for her family for many years. Recently, she lost her

husband and now lives with one of her sons. Nadia, her daughter-in-law, provides all the cooking in the new household. Sabah has been very sad in her new home and says she’s not hungry when she is offered food. She does not join the family for dinner

1. Check your understanding

Making mealtimes more pleasant.

How would you advise Sabah’s family to deal with this situation?
Please select the answer that you think is correct from the list.

Bring Sabah’s dinner to her room.
This is not helpful because it might further isolate Sabah from her family. Sabah may not feel welcome in the new home. She has lost her husband, her own home and now also her previous roles as cook and housekeeper.

Demand that Sabah join them for dinner.
This is not such a good response because it may make Sabah angry or cause her to further withdraw.

Let Sabah help with meal preparation and cleaning activities.

This is a good response because her family knows Sabah still enjoys cooking and should therefore support her to continue engaging in the activities that she likes and is still able to do.

Now, try to think about involving the person that you care for around mealtimes.

1.Activity

Mealtime activities
Please select all activities from the list below that you think the person you care for can still engage in and would enjoy

Mealtime activities Example

Shopping together Let the person living with dementia choose what food and drinks they like to buy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Meal preparation Let the person living with dementia help chopping, stirring, or cooking.

Preparation of the table Let the person living with dementia lay the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Cleaning the table Let the person living with dementia remove everything from the dining table and wipe the table.

Washing or drying dishes Let the person living with dementia put dishes in the sink or wash and dry the dishes.

If you think that the person you care for can still engage in and would enjoy any of the listed activities, perhaps you could ask or assist them in trying these activities the next time you have a meal.

Hamad Medical Corporation

HMC is the principal public healthcare provider in the State of Qatar, delivering the safest, most effective and most compassionate care to each and every one of our patients.

Hamad Medical Corporation
PO Box 3050

(+974) 4439 5777
Doha, Qatar

contactus@hamad.qa

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Lesson 1. Eating and drinking - more pleasant mealtimes

Making mealtimes more pleasant

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