Samenvatting

The paper refers to people with dementia as ‘people suffering from dementia’ – the person should come first, not the disease. Dementia is a long and arduous disease that causes suffering and heartache for all those involved. There is evidence to suggest that some memories in the PSfd are preserved. Explicit memory requires conscious thought and declines over time, whereas implicit memories are retained and can be retrieved without conscious thought. It might feel useless to administer pastoral care to PSfd as ‘they will only forget about it again, but this misconception has detrimental effects on the care for the PSfd. Spirituality and religion provide a sense of importance, help with stress and improve their general well-being. The PSfd deserve to receive pastoral care because they are still humans who deserve and need love and care. The study used the grounded theory method to analyse different care methods to help create a new method for administering pastoral care to PSfd.

The results were discussed, and the study concluded that:
- PSfd can communicate with emotion and behaviour.
- One should stay present and provide a stress-free environment when working with the PSfd.
- One should build a relationship with the PSfd.
- One should have knowledge of the PSfd, focus on familiarity and on what they can still do.
- Pastoral care is a multidisciplinary endeavour.
- Church, worship and rituals are beneficial for the PSfd.
- Touch is a powerful communication method that enhances every aspect of pastoral care.