Centre for Policy on Ageing



View of life in persons with dementia
Author(s)	Anders Westius, Lars Andersson, Kjell Kallenberg
Journal title	Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 8, no 4, November 2009
Pages	pp 481-500
Source	http://dem.sagepub.com
Keywords	Attitude ; Emotions ; Dementia ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Interpretation ; Sweden.
Annotation	The view of life of an individual is defined as a conception of reality, a central system of values and a basic emotional attitude. Swedish researchers conducted interviews with 21 people with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type. The interview data were interpreted with a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Despite their cognitive deterioration, it was possible to understand the view of life of the participants in the frame of their life story. Their view of life seemed to guide them towards selecting mainly emotionally powerful and value-oriented memories. No exceptional characteristics that could be traced to their dementia disease were found in the participants' views of life. The view of life of the participants with mild to moderate dementia was vital for their life story and was not erased by dementia. In order to respect people with dementia as persons, caregivers should strive to gain some knowledge of their view of life. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-100304202 A
Classmark	DP: DL: EA: DB: 4CC: 76P
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.