Episodes of lucidity in people with severe dementia as narrated by formal carers

Twenty formal carers employed in three nursing homes narrated 92 episodes o f lucidity (ELs) in people with severe dementia, Sixty-two episodes concern ed speech, nine concerned actions and 21 episodes concerned both speech and actions, Most ELs were said to occur spontaneously when the patients were acting closely together with a carer who did not make demands on them and r egarded them as valuable human beings whose behaviour was a meaningful expr ession of their experiences, The narrations showed characteristics that ind icated trustworthiness and the episodes described in three separate nursing homes were very similar and resembled descriptions given in previous resea rch reports as well as in relatives' reports. Further research seems necess ary and the assumption that severe dementia implies the destruction of the self or personhood must be questioned.