Centre for Policy on Ageing



Embodied selfhood in Alzheimer's disease — rethinking person-centred care
Author(s)	Pia C Kontos
Journal title	Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 4, no 4, November 2005
Pages	pp 553-570
Source	http://www.dem.sagepub.com
Keywords	Dementia ; Personality ; Attitude ; Cognitive processes ; Anthropological studies.
Annotation	Dementia care practices are premised on a model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that denies the body an agential role to the constitution and manifestation of selfhood. As a consequence, despite advances in person-centred care, the body - which is a substantive means by which people with advancing dementia engage with the world - is treated as passive rather than active and intentional. The author's central argument is that dementia care practices must embrace the idea that the body is a fundamental source of selfhood that does not derive its agency from a cognitive form of knowledge. With an interest in bringing the body into a thematic re-visioning of selfhood in AD, the author suggests ways that the notion of embodied selfhood could enhance person-centred dementia care. However, further research is required in order to fully conceptualise this notion in the context of dementia care. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-051219216 A
Classmark	EA: DK: DP: DA: 3FA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.