Person Centered Care:  Kitwood’s Approach

History
Dr. Tom Kitwood was born 1937 in Cambridge England.  He attended Cambridge University and graduated with his first degree in Natural Science, specializing in Biochemistry.  Kitwood taught in several British Secondary schools as well as Uganda.  He later returned in 1974 to complete two Master’s degrees in Psychology & Sociology of Education.  In 1977, Kitwood completed his PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Bradford, England.  The focus of his thesis was the psychology of values and moral development.  He lectured regularly for the Institute of Medical & Social Care Research at the University of Wales and contributing writer for the Journal of Moral Education.

Kitwood’s colleagues and life long friends remember him as a curious intent observer of human nature in daily life   Kitwood’s words were true to his experience and spoken from the heart.  He was known for living the example he professed, in that he exhibited the integrity, empathy and skill he required of others in his Person Centered Care practice.

Kitwood witnessed, “a social environment of care that depersonalized, dehumanized and invalidated the person with dementia”.  From direct experience with facilities and the care they were providing to dementia patients, Kitwood immersed himself in dementia, its people and daily work in England’s dementia wards.  

Bradford University in England is home to the Bradford Dementia Group that Kitwood founded.  Dr. Kitwood passed away in 1999 leaving his work unfinished.  The Bradford Group continues Person Centered Care work here in the USA.  The Group sponsors The Heather Hill Foundation in Ohio, JentleHarts Consulting and Training Service as well as for-profit, not for profit and state administered care providers in training and implementation of the person centered care.

Today, Person Centered Care is implemented in nursing homes and residential dementia care centers across the US.  This person centered approach to dementia care is advancing culture change in America as defined and measured by CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).  Person Centered Care can meet US State and Federal Laws (OBRA) specific person centered care survey tags in facilities that admit person with dementia. Kitwood’s model of Person Centered Care is well established in America as an effective, measurable and practical model that enhances the quality of life of persons living with dementia and those who care for them.   In England, no facility can provide care without being licensed as a Person Centered Care Provider.