Introduction: Patient autonomy is one of the most important ethical values in healthcare. It means the patient's right to self-determination regarding medical care, without the influence of medical professionals on his/her decision. The onset of dementia can quickly lead to a loss of autonomy due to cognitive decline and, as a result, poorer understanding of information. So it is necessary to preserve autonomy. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to examine and present the importance of autonomy with people with dementia. Methods: A descriptive method was used, with a review of scientific and professional literature searched with the help of databases: CINAHL, MedLine (PubMed) and Google Scholar. For the literature search, we used the time frame between 2013 and 2023. We searched for literature in Slovenian and English in the period from January to March 2023. We included 12 articles in the final analysis. Results: By reviewing literature, we found that autonomy with people with dementia has a positive effect on their quality of life. People with dementia prefer to live at home, although this presents a great challenge and responsibility for family caregivers. A dilemma often arises between maintaining autonomy and ensuring safety. Autonomy must be guaranteed even in the case of institutional care. Smaller care facilities offer a higher quality of stay, as they provide more privacy, independence and comfort. Nurses, a suitable physical environment and adequate care have an important role in ensuring autonomy. Discussion and conclusion: Autonomy is a basic need for every human being. In people with dementia this can quickly reduce due to the disease. That is way it is important to strive to preserve this. This can be achieved in different ways, namely by providing person-centered care, promoting informal care (involving relatives), planning care in advance, providing a suitable physical environment and ensuring safety. The nurse, who strives to work actively in these areas, plays an important role. Due to the lack of time, space and personnel, and as a result routine work that is not individually adapted to the individual, the autonomy and quality of life of these patients decreases. Based on this, we must be aware that many improvements and further research are still needed in this area.
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