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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Narrative identity and dementia: a study of emotion and narrative in older people with dementia | | Author(s) | Marie A Mills |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 17, part 6, November 1997 |
| Pages | pp 673-698 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Personality ; Emotions ; Well being ; Psychiatric treatment ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | In this study, eight older people with moderate to severe dementia who used psychogeriatric day services were interviewed weekly over a number of months. Counselling skills were used by the interviewer to investigate their recall of emotional memories. The data forms a series of longitudinal case studies, analysed using quasi-judicial methods, and with a grounded theory approach. Over time, the study found that each case study revealed fragmented pieces of an informant's personal narrative. The emotions associated with their past experiences appeared to provide a strong cue to recall and formed a significant feature of their accounts as well as providing all informants with narrative identity. For some informants, this narrative identity began to dissolve as their illness progressed and their stories faded from memory. For others, whose memories were not so affected by their illness, it remained with them. Although outcomes varied for all informants, all experienced increased well-being. The data may have important therapeutic implications for the care of dementia patients through the development of reminiscence work. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980128203 A |
| Classmark | EA: DB: DK: DL: D:F:5HH: LP: 3J |
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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