Why words matter: talking to people who have dementia

ByProfessor Rowan Harwood

Published18 August 2025

Prof. Rowan Harwood explains how cognitive impairments make communication more complex, and shares his insights on how to talk to patients with dementia.

When faced with confused or incomprehensible speech, it is easy to assume that a person with dementia has lost all interactional competence. We found that this was not the case.

Some aspects of clinical care are uncomfortable or unpleasant and can be resisted if the person does not understand why they are necessary, even if it seems obvious to us.

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Professor Rowan Harwood

Rowan H Harwood is a consultant geriatrician and professor of palliative and end-of-life care at the University of Nottingham. He has a varied portfolio of applied health research, including delirium, dementia and evaluation of interventions. He was editor-in-chief of the journal Age and Ageing, co-chairs the WHO Advisory Group monitoring the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, and the WHO working group on measuring the quality of dying, and sits on the Council of the Royal College of Physicians.