How Dementia Impacts Marital Relationships - Jeremy B. Yorgason

In this webinar, you will learn about the various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, how a marriage relationship is affected when one of the partners develops dementia, how a marriage relationship is affected when a parent of one of the partners has dementia tools and resources to help couples maintain and strengthen their marriage relationship while navigating dementia care.

  

Time Markers

0:00 – Introduction: Who is Jeremy Yorgason 

13:29- Overview 

13: 46- Dementia defined   

14:46- Changes inside the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain 

15:30- Progression of AD 

17:18- Dementia assessment 

18:06- 3-D’s: dementia, depression, delirium 

19:20- Medical treatment: preventative measures 

20:04- Medical treatment: medications 

21:55- When a spouse develops dementia 

28:35- Changes in sexual intimacy 

30:30- Vignette #1: A common (ideal) scenario 

34:06- Vignette #2: not so common scenario 

36:13- The impact of dementia on a spouse 

39:40- Caring for a spouse with cancer vs dementia 

42:30- What can we do? 

45:50- Strengthening your marriage when your aging parent has dementia 

49:35- Resources 

51:15- Other issues 

51:20- Live Q & A 

About Webinar guest:   

Jeremy B. Yorgason is a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Family Life at 

Brigham Young University. He earned a master’s degree from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. 

from Virginia Tech with emphases in Marriage and Family Therapy, and was a post-doctoral 

fellow at the Gerontology Center at Penn State. Dr. Yorgason teaches classes on adult 

development and aging, family stress and resilience, and advanced statistics. His research 

interests are focused on family relationships in later life, including couple relationships dealing 

with health challenges, grandparent/grandchild relationships, and family relationships in 

retirement. His recently published research explores how vision and hearing impairments are 

associated with cognitive function in later life and the benefits of good sleep and exercise in later life. 

Couples’ relationships and healthy ways young couples manage Type 1 diabetes. He enjoys going on walks with his wife, outdoor activities with his children, and growing trees from seeds. 

Webinar Guest Links:   

Dementia Screening Interview: https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/ad8-dementia-screening.pdf 

Mini Mental Status Exam: https://health.utah.edu/sites/g/files/zrelqx131/files/files/migration/image/mmse.pdf 

Clock Drawing Test: https://www.sralab.org/sites/default/files/2017-07/Clock%20Drawing%20Test%20Instructions.pdf 

University of Utah Center for Alzheimer’s Care Imaging and Research (CACIR): https://healthcare.utah.edu/neurosciences/neurology/cognitive-disorders 

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