The Dementia Care Partner's Workbook ― A Guide for Understanding, Education, and Hope

The Dementia Care Partner’s Workbook is a support group manual and a self-study guide for care partners of a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia such as vascular, frontotemporal, Parkinson’s, or Lewy body. It provides 13 lessons for support group participants or individuals who desire independent study, as well as a free downloadable leader’s manual valuable to professional or lay leaders from secular or faith-based organizations. Each lesson offers understanding, education, and hope and covers topics that include the different types of dementia, brain structure and function, stages of dementia, changing relationships, emotional and mental health challenges, communicating love, attachment loss and problematic behaviors, care at home versus residential care, wellness and self-care, existential and spiritual issues, important questions for doctors and attornies, and helpful resources for the journey.

Dr. Edward G. Shaw is a physician and mental health counselor. He was also the primary caregiver for his wife, Rebecca, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease at age 54 in 2008, and died at age 62 in 2016. Dr. Shaw is the founder and director of the Memory Counseling Program in Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health's Sticht Center.