Personhood- what is it?

Personhood in dementia relates to how the person living with dementia perceives themselves (Sakamoto et al., 2017) and how this can be supported by those around them in relation to their own being and identity (Hennelly et al., 2017). In a nutshell, it’s about treating people living with dementia with dignity and respect, ensuring that their sense of self is supported (Hennelly et al., 2018).

When we think about personhood, it’s important to consider both ‘selfhood’ and ‘self-identity’ as two very important elements of personhood. Kitwood talked extensively about the importance of personal relationships in both building and maintaining personhood for people with dementia (Hennelly et al., 2017). This can be tricky to do in the care environment, but it is one of your most important roles in caring for the person living with dementia (expand here and include the difficulty in assessing how person-centred care and personhood can be enhanced for people living with dementia through changes in current practice (Hennelly et al., 2017?).