ABSTRACT
Introduction In considering the relationship between nursing and contemporary dementia care, images and metaphors that spring to mind are characterized by energy, growth, development and a realization of potential. Nurses working in dementia care exist in exciting times, enmeshed in a maelstrom of research and practice developments associated with the articulation of broad-based biopsychosocial discourses. The introduction of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, the growth in the centrality of the subjective and lived experience of the person with dementia and the impact of psychosocial interventions for people with dementia and their carers are but a few of the many examples that can be identified. Work of this nature has facilitated a challenge to therapeutic nihilism previously characteristic of dementia care and energized the development of exciting initiatives for and by nurses working in the field.
