Dementia communication: open, closed, leading questions

1. Asking questions to people with dementia requires a certain level of expertise. People with some form of dementia, such as Alzheimer's, are forgetful. Questions can be threatening if one can no longer come up with an answer. It helps if the discussion partner consciously chooses an open, closed or suggestive question. For example, the healthy conversation partner influences the feeling of safety of the person with dementia, regardless of whether this is Alzheimer's, vascular dementia or Parkinson's. A skill that is also reserved for non-professionals!

Conclusion

1. You can still ask open questions at the beginning of the dementia process. Gradually it becomes necessary to switch to closed questions. Finally, you have the leading questions at your disposal. When you have to switch from one type of question to another type of question depends on the stage of dementia someone is in. By carefully observing how someone with vascular, fronto temporal or other clinical picture that causes dementia responds to questions, you can perceive when the time is right for a switch to a different type of question.

2. You can still ask open questions at the beginning of the dementia process. Gradually it becomes necessary to switch to closed questions. Finally, you have the leading questions at your disposal. When you have to switch from one type of question to another type of question depends on the stage of dementia someone is in. By carefully observing how someone with vascular, fronto temporal or other clinical picture that causes dementia responds to questions, you can see when the time is right to switch to another type of question.