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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The experience of living with dementia in residential care
— an interpretative phenomenological analysis | | Author(s) | Linda Clare, Julia Rowlands, Errollyn Bruce |
| Journal title | The Gerontologist, vol 48, no 6, December 2008 |
| Pages | pp 711-720 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Residents [care homes] ; Well being ; Quality of life ; Adjustment ; Care homes ; Qualitative Studies. |
| Annotation | The subjective psychological experience of people with moderate to severe dementia living in residential care is insufficiently understood. This exploratory qualitative study aimed to explore the subjective experience of life with dementia in residential care from the perspective of the person with dementia, and to understand the psychological impact of being in that situation. 80 individuals with dementia who were living in residential care homes in England and Wales engaged in unstructured conversations with a researcher. The resultant 304 transcripts were subjected to interpretive phenomenological analysis in order to develop a thematic account. The experience of living with dementia is residential care is fundamentally one of experiencing difficult and distressing emotions relating to loss, isolation, uncertainty, fear and a sense of worthlessness. Participants generally tried to cope by accepting and making the best of things and affirming their past sense of self and identity, but some also expressed frustration and anger. Participants were able to describe aspects of their situation and their emotional response to it, grounded in a strong retained sense of self and identity. The participants' experience emphasises the importance of improving the living situation of older people with dementia in residential care settings. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090605212 A |
| Classmark | EA: KX: D:F:5HH: F:59: DR: KW: 3DP |
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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