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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Striving for connection
— appraisal and coping among women with early-stage Alzheimer's disease | | Author(s) | Mike van Dijkhuizen, Linda Clare, Alison Pearce |
| Journal title | Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 5, no 1, February 2006 |
| Pages | pp 73-94 |
| Source | http://www.dem.sagepub.com |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Early ; Diagnosis ; Older women ; Methodology. |
| Annotation | A number of models have been proposed to describe the processes of appraisal and coping with early stage dementia, but possible gender differences remain to be explored. This study focuses specifically on women with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD), and examines how they made sense of and attempted to cope with their situation. Transcripts of interviews with 9 women were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Ten key themes were identified, which were grouped into three higher order themes: connectedness, protective strategies and adjustment. The women experienced memory problems as a threat to the sense of connectedness they derived from attachment to family and friends, affiliation with social roles, and familiarity with their surroundings. A Level of Connectedness Model of the appraisal and coping processes of women with early stage Alzheimer's disease is presented, which places coping in an interpersonal framework, whereby a woman's ability to maintain a sense of self is inherently dependent on the readiness of others to facilitate connectedness. This provides a focus for possible further development of psychosocial interventions that consider well-being in an interpersonal context. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060314216 A |
| Classmark | EA: 4J: LK7: BD: 3D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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