Centre for Policy on Ageing



Preserving selves — identity work and dementia
Author(s)	Anne K Vittoria
Journal title	Research on Aging, vol 20, no 1, January 1998
Pages	pp 91-136
Keywords	Dementia ; Psychogeriatric units ; In-patients ; Personality ; Personal relationships ; Personnel ; Participant observation.
Annotation	This participant-observation study examines communication and the construction of identities as they contribute to or impede the preservation of self in an Alzheimer's special care unit (SCU). A social-psychological alternative to the medical model of dementia care was uncovered, referred to as communicative care. This type of care arises out of the world of the unit and is a totality of care where selves are evoked and preserved, and identities are constructed and respected. Classic studies characterise the relationship between staff and residents as adversarial within the hierarchical "total institution", with a devaluing of self. This study demonstrated that through the staff's process of communicative care, the SCU works as a self-preserve to shield residents from devaluation and a loss of identity. The staff and residents had a reciprocal relationship and helped each other to survive.
Accession Number	CPA-980306404 A
Classmark	EA: LDM: LF7: DK: DS: QM: 3DB
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.