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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Views of life and sense of identity in people with Alzheimer's disease | | Author(s) | Anders Westius, Kjell Kallenberg, Astrid Norberg |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 30, part 7, October 2010 |
| Pages | pp 1257-1278 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso doi: 10.1017/S0144686X10000309 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Personality ; Attitude ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Social surveys ; Sweden. |
| Annotation | Making it possible for people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to retain a sense of identity during the process of the disease poses a great challenge to caregivers, professionals and family carers. This Swedish study aims to elucidate the role of the view of life of people with Alzheimer's in framing their sense of identity. Is their view of life a vital aspect of their sense of identity? "View of life" was interpreted as a vital aspect of sense of identity, understood as the individual's belief of one's life history and characteristic attributes. 21 people with mild to moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease were interviewed about their life story. The narratives were interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutic method. By telling their life story, the participants also narrated their view of life, i.e. their conception of reality, their central system of values, and their basic emotional attitudes. By their own accounts, the origins of the narrators' central values and basic emotional attitudes were established in early life. They also expressed a sense of meaningfulness and continuity when looking back on their lives. The findings suggest that for a care-giver or confidant, having knowledge of a person with dementia's view of life is valuable when seeking to confirm that person's sense of identity. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-101004209 A |
| Classmark | EA: DK: DP: DB: 3F: 76P |
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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