Essay On Dignity And Dignity

Dignity is an inherent characteristic of part of being human. It is made manifest through behaviour that demonstrates respect for self and others and it can be felt as an attribute to oneself (Jacelon, Connelly, Brown, Proulx, & Vo, 2004). Because Joan has dementia and is refusing treatment, it leads to the case proposal of hiding her medication in her food. The act of deception in the case of not telling her about the medication in her food, affects both Joans autonomy and dignity. In a study conducted in Sweden by Randers & Mattiasson (2004), they concluded that integrity and autonomy appeared to be inseparable in maintaining older people's dignity in hospital settings. Randers & Mattiasson (2004) went further to argue that if older patients’

With Joan, it is evident that her autonomy is not supported, thus no dignity is being upheld.

Although her dignity is not maintained in this particular moment as it’s for her own good and the safety of others, there are other ways her dignity can be maintained, thus agreeing with the proposal. Jacelon, C., Connelly, T., Brown, R., Proulx, K., & Vo, T. (2004). A concept analysis of dignity for older adults. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 48(1), 76-83. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03170.x Randers, I., & Mattiasson, A. (2004). Autonomy and integrity: upholding older adult patients' dignity. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 45(1), 63-71. DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02861.x

It is clear that Joan doesn't like taking her medication as she expressed to the staff it makes her worse. However, because of the nature of the situation, by Joan

Dementia involves the gradual deterioration of cognitive, physical and mental capabilities of an individual, therefore, as this disease progresses, the individual’s ability to comprehend her situation, make intelligible choices and execute them independently decreases (Bentwich, Dickman, & Oberman, 2017). Part of the psychological and behavioural symptoms of dementia is aggressive behaviour (Pulsford, & Duxbury, 2006). In the UK, the incidence rate of aggressive behaviour among dementia patients in a residential care setting is 86% (Ballard, O'Brien, James, & Swann, 2003). Therefore, the behaviour that Joan is presenting when she is off her medication is very common, and likely to happen again. Although this case proposal's main focus is on Joan, other people like the staff and other residents are at risk of both physical and psychological harm. According to Pulsford & Duxbury (2006), professional carers that look after people with dementia, experience negative feelings, considerable amount of stress and burnouts as a result of being the victims of aggressive behaviour. These are just the consequences of the staff members as a result of aggressive behaviour, imagine the harm of such behaviour does to the other residents who are more fragile than the staff. Part of Joan's medication is keeping her dementia symptoms such as the aggressive behaviour at bay, therefore, giving Joan her medication by any means necessary is deemed appropriate as not only one