Critical Dementia Network

48 resources

Posted: October 18, 2023

A Critical History of Dementia Studies

“This book offers the first ever critical history of dementia studies. Focusing on the emergence of dementia studies as a discrete area of academic interest in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it draws on critical theory to interrogate the very notion of dementia studies as an entity, shedding light on the affinities and… Read more »

Posted: April 18, 2023

Critical dementia studies: An introduction

Richard Ward + Linn Sandberg

This book puts the critical into dementia studies. It makes a timely and novel contribution to the field, offering a thought-provoking critique of current thinking and debate on dementia. Collectively the contributions gathered together in this text make a powerful case for a more politically engaged and critical treatment of dementia and the systems and… Read more »

Posted: December 23, 2022

Mild cognitive impairment in the workplace – Intro to an overlooked, emerging disability

Margaret Oldfield

Margaret Oldfield, Josephine Mcmurray, AnneMarie Levy, Rosemary Leslie, Lindsey Simpson Conference presentation: Disability and Work Canada 2022 (virtual) November 2022 DOI: 13140/RG.2.2.15612.62085

Posted: December 23, 2022

Preventing the institutionalization of people with dementia and Assessing an assisted-living or long-term care institution

,

Abstract In a 2021 poll by the National Institute on Aging, 97% of Canadian seniors said they did not want to live in a long-term-care facility (a nursing home). Many long-term-care residents do not need to be in institutions, whose numerous drawbacks were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents are there because they cannot receive… Read more »

Posted: November 26, 2022

Nursing-home residents caring for each other: Challenging the care giver-recipient binary

, ,

Abstract Care in nursing homes is often perceived as one-way: caregivers (staff and family) provide care, and residents receive it. Findings from my ongoing critical ethnography of a nursing home challenge this binary. Guided by critical disability studies and using observation, interviews, and reflection, the ethnography prioritizes the perspective of residents. Central to the ethnography… Read more »

file_download
Posted: November 17, 2022

Grappling with the concept of “aggressive behavior” among people with dementia

Description ‘Aggressive behavior among dementia patients’ is seen as a major concern in nursing homes because of its stressful impact on caregivers. Geriatric-medicine literature defines ‘aggressive behavior’ as hitting, kicking, and screaming. Caregivers are advised to ‘manage’ this ‘behavior’ through a variety of strategies: identifying and removing environmental triggers, behavior modification, reassurance and distraction, and… Read more »

file_download
Posted: November 17, 2022

“Power, Agency, Aging, and Cognitive Impairment: The Stories of Two Women”

Abstract All of us get old if we are lucky, and disability is a natural part of human variation across the lifespan. Early in her life, Susan* was labelled with developmental disability but, unlike many other disabled people who were born during the mid-twentieth century, she grew up within her family, not in an institution…. Read more »

file_download
Posted: November 17, 2022

How COVID-19 challenges connectedness among family caregivers and residents in North American nursing homes: Reflections on stories in a co-created ethnography

Description COVID infection-control measures have fragmented connectedness between nursing-home residents and family members. Although nursing homes have creatively tried to maintain connections, these efforts don’t replace the intimacy of physical presence and touch. You can listen to and watch the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P4dCAA7uK8

file_download