Much of the nursing research related to clients diagnosed with dementia has focused on management of disruptive behaviors, safety, and basic sustenance with little attention to the higher level developmental needs of love, belonging, self-esteem, self-actualization, and aesthetics. As nurses seek to understand the links between cognitive, functional, and developmental decline and focus interventions on meeting the higher level needs of their clients, they can provide more comprehensive care and promote quality of life for clients diagnosed with dementia.