An Exploration of Stories or Narratives of Older Persons Living with Dementia

Background/Objectives: In 2015, over 850,000 UK residents had a dementia diagnosis costing over £26 billion in care (Alzheimer’s Society, 2015); it is subsequently imperative that the care being provided is exactly what people living with dementia need. This project aims to understand what life is like for people living with dementia to educate people about the disease, improve the care and support that is offered to both the person with dementia and their families and encourage the use of video care plans.
Methods: This project is grounded within a descriptive phenomenological approach, whereby analysis will be conducted only on the information made available by participants, no more and no less, with no pre-conceived assumptions about life with the disease (Fewtrell and O’Connor, 1995). 12 participants from Hafod Care Association (6 people with dementia and 6 family members) will explain their experiences of living with dementia whilst being video recorded. The videos will be transcribed and edited by the participants. Narrative analysis will be used to analyse the stories. This is an innovating piece of work as people with dementia are often considered too “unreliable” to participate in research.
Expected Outcomes: Although not yet completed, this project will educate people about life with dementia through conferences and articles and improve the care provided by Hafod Care Association. Personal photographs will be added to the recorded videos; copies will be returned to the participants as keepsakes and used alongside traditional paper-based care plans to encourage a more person-centred care environment.