Developing learning materials to promote positive interaction with people with dementia: we are all in it together!

Literature on the care of people with dementia is still sparse and this is reflected in the professional education curriculum such as social work, nursing and other health care professionals (Marshall and Tibbs 2006). As life expectancy and the likelihood of dementia increases, the transition from the third to the fourth age is marked by a loss of control of the body through dementia. Its effects on the person constitutes what Gilleard and Higgs(2000) term a ‘loss of social agency’; a social death that is characterised by an exclusion from the social world and services that objectify and dehumanise the individual (Foucault 1973). Extensive research by Kitwood (1997) centred on engagement through intense interaction with individuals with dementia and promoted the concept of ‘personhood’ bringing to the forefront more person-centred and citizen approaches to dementia care (Kitwood, 1997, Marshall and Tibbs, 2006). This approach has also connected with a number of arts based methods in professional education where traditional care practices founded on more positivist stances are recognised to be limited as a basis for enquiry into the human condition.
This paper describes an educational partnership between social work and nurse educators, carers of people with dementia and an older people’s theatre project. This collaboration sought to build on cultural theories from the arts and humanities to provide a more political lens for change and reform in approaches to dementia care (Deleuze and Guttari , 1987; Barrett and Bolt 2007). Using storytelling techniques, a number of case studies were developed to inform arts based approaches such as drama and music to develop learning materials for professional and carer education. Digital images enacted by an older people’s theatre group also drew on research evidence of good practice in communication with people with dementia and a number of digital stories were developed. The paper will present some of the findings from the evaluation of the project and will illustrate this by showing some of the 3 – 4 minute clips from materials developed to facilitate further participant discussion.

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