When people with dementia refuse help. SCIE

When a person with dementia is unwilling to do something that we want them to do, this may be described as ‘refusal’ or ‘resistance’.

As with other areas of a person’s behaviour that we may find challenging or distressing, we need to try to find out what the person is telling us through their refusal – in other words, the reason why they are refusing. And rather than expecting the person with dementia to follow our wishes, we should be focusing on how we can co-operate with their wishes.