Illustrating dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-250
Author(s):  
Nigel Smith

Debate about dementia commonly elicits horror and despair. Yet, dementia is a syndrome of many distinct brain disorders. While progression is expected, memory scores are highly variable in dementia. Illustration plays a part by emphasizing the shrivelled brain of advanced Alzheimer’s. Texts typically refer to wasting in the Alzheimer’s brain although it is selective and may be absent in some cases. Scans emphasize the anatomy of dementia rather than its variability and potential for relearning. Zombies have become associated with symptoms of dementia in both scholarly discourse and popular conversation. A combination of these metaphors and the implication of ‘brainless behaviour’ may contribute to the stigma around dementia and ‘malignant practices’ reported among care staff, such as mockery and disparagement, which disempower people with dementia. However, people with dementia can describe their own experience. An increasing number of memoirs, blogs and podcasts explore the subjective experience of living with dementia. Art by people with dementia reveals persistent creativity and may help them to retain a sense of identity and self-worth. My animated documentary, Mute, illustrates the past life of ‘Frank’, a man with advanced dementia. The technique of charcoal reduction, with its subtle residue of past images, is a metaphor for the selective memory loss typical of Alzheimer’s dementia. The theme of animation therapy in mental health and community arts has gained support in recent years. I discuss the scope for co-produced animations by people who have dementia and the skills required by arts health workers in this field.

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Jodie Eichler-Levine

In this article I analyze how Americans draw upon the authority of both ancient, so-called “hidden” texts and the authority of scholarly discourse, even overtly fictional scholarly discourse, in their imaginings of the “re-discovered” figure of Mary Magdalene. Reading recent treatments of Mary Magdalene provides me with an entrance onto three topics: how Americans see and use the past, how Americans understand knowledge itself, and how Americans construct “religion” and “spirituality.” I do so through close studies of contemporary websites of communities that focus on Mary Magdalene, as well as examinations of relevant books, historical novels, reader reviews, and comic books. Focusing on Mary Magdalene alongside tropes of wisdom also uncovers the gendered dynamics at play in constructions of antiquity, knowledge, and religious accessibility.


Author(s):  
Angèle Flora Mendy

By examining policies of recruiting non-EU/EEA health workers and how ethical considerations are taken into account when employing non-EU/EEA nurses in the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland, this chapter intends to show that the use of the so-called ‘ethical’ argument to convince national public opinion of the relevance of restrictive recruitment policies is recent (since the 1990s). The analysis highlights the fact that in addition to the institutional legacies, qualification and skills—through the process of their recognition—play an important role in the opening or restriction of the labour market to health professionals from the Global South. The legacy of the past also largely determines the place offered to non-EU/EEA health professionals in the different health systems of host countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 182-183
Author(s):  
James Faraday ◽  
Clare Abley ◽  
Catherine Exley ◽  
Joanne Patterson

Abstract More and more people with dementia are living in nursing homes (NH). Often, they depend on NH staff for help with eating and drinking. It is important that staff have the skills and support they need to provide good care at mealtimes. This qualitative study explores mealtime care for people with dementia, from the perspective of NH staff. Semi-structured interviews with NH staff (n=16) were carried out in two nursing homes. The homes were chosen to have diverse characteristics: one home had a large number of beds and was part of a small local organization; the other had a small number of beds and was part of a large national organization. Various staff members were interviewed, including direct care staff, senior carers, nurses, managers, and kitchen staff. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A constant comparison approach was taken, so that data from early interviews were explored in more depth subsequently. From the analysis, five themes emerged as important in mealtime care for people with dementia living in nursing homes: Setting the right tone; Working well as a team; Knowing the residents; Promoting autonomy and independence; Gently persevering. This work forms part of a larger ethnographic study on the topic, which includes data from residents with dementia, and family carers. Results will inform the development of a staff training intervention to optimize mealtime care for this population.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1979-1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Broome ◽  
Tom Dening ◽  
Justine Schneider ◽  
Dawn Brooker

ABSTRACTBackground:Arts-based interventions play an important role in the care of people with dementia. Yet, creative arts are seldom implemented as a tool to enhance the care and wellbeing of people with dementia.Methods:We examined the involvement of care staff in creative arts activities in residential care. Aspects of involvement that appear to influence outcomes in people with dementia were identified and analyzed. A broad systematic literature search of MedLine, EMBASE, PsychInfo, CINAHL, ASSIA, SCOPUS, and Web of Science led to the identification of 14 papers. The studies identified through the search process were examined in terms of intervention, context, mechanism and outcome, and the relationships between these aspects.Results:Training sessions were identified as an opportunity to educate care personnel on useful techniques that are relevant to daily care practice. Evidence from the literature suggests that creative arts programs play a significant role in the way staff and residents interact and as a result influence the care practice of staff. Under certain conditions creative arts programs, that involve and engage staff, facilitate enhanced interactions and improve care strategies, which leads to the recognition and validation of personhood in residents with dementia.Conclusions:These findings provide a basis for illustrating which elements of care staff involvement in creative arts programs could be implemented in residential care contexts in order to have the upmost benefit.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110516
Author(s):  
Vincent Wagner ◽  
Jorge Flores-Aranda ◽  
Ana Cecilia Villela Guilhon ◽  
Shane Knight ◽  
Karine Bertrand

Young psychoactive substance users in social precarity are vulnerable to a range of health and social issues. Time perspective is one aspect to consider in supporting change. This study draws on the views expressed by young adults to portray their subjective experience of time, how this perception evolves and its implications for their substance use and socio-occupational integration trajectories. The sample includes 23 young psychoactive substance users ( M = 24.65 years old; 83% male) in social precarity frequenting a community-based harm reduction centre. Thematic analysis of the interviews reveals the past to be synonymous with disappointment and disillusionment, but also a constructive force. Participants expressed their present-day material and human needs as well as their need for recognition and a sense of control over their own destiny. Their limited ability to project into the future was also discussed. Avenues on how support to this population might be adapted are suggested.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella North

This article undertakes a philosophical exploration of the act we know, or think we know, as ‘dressing’. Inhabiting, in thought, the moment in which we dress, I examine some of its constituent mechanisms, attending to the impulses by which dressing is generated out of subjective experience.  When those impulses are temporally marked, as they are in the case of retro dress, this generation is a two-pronged process, in which the holding of the body in time, and the holding of time in the body, recalibrate one another. The process of ‘dressing,’ in this understanding, has a reflexivity which is double; it entails the turning of the body, with dress as medium, towards itself, and the turning of present experience towards some felt notion of the past. Reflexively dressing, we are always becoming ourselves, and becoming other than ourselves, at once; a movement of circuitous internalisation and externalisation by which the ambiguation inherent in material experience is realised.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 2099-2103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita M. Y. Goh ◽  
Samantha M. Loi ◽  
Alissa Westphal ◽  
Nicola T. Lautenschlager

ABSTRACTTouchscreen technology (TT) is a resource that can improve the quality of life of residents with dementia, and care staff, in residential aged care facilities (RACF) through a person-centered care approach. To enable the use of TTs to engage and benefit people with dementia in RACFs, education is needed to explore how these devices may be used, what facilitates use, and how to address barriers. We sought to provide education and explore RACF staff views and barriers on using TT to engage their residents with dementia. An educational session on using TT with residents with dementia was given to staff from three long-term RACFs in Melbourne, Australia. A cross-sectional convenience sample of 17 staff members (personal care attendants, registered nurses, enrolled nurses, allied health clinicians, and domestic staff) who attended were administered questionnaires pre- and post-sessions. As a result of the education seminar, they were significantly more confident in their ability to use TT devices with residents. TT, and education to staff about its use with residents with dementia, is a useful strategy to enhance RACF staff knowledge and confidence, thereby enhancing the use of technology in RACFs in order to improve care standards in people with dementia.


K ta Kita ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-94
Author(s):  
Katarina Septi ◽  
Ribut Basuki

This paper explained the process and the result of my final project which is a screenplay entitled Going Home. The screenplay is about Dahlia, a thirteen-year-old girl who was born and grew up in Australia. Then, she has to return to Jakarta, Indonesia and continue her education in Indonesia. She has an assignment about history of Indonesia. She needs to write one of heroic history of Indonesia with her own words and write her reflection about it. Once, she goes to Surabaya for a holiday and stays at Majapahit Hotel Surabaya. In the hotel, she experiences the past life about several historical moments by going back and forth to a past life and present life. After experiencing it, she can feel and understand the spirit of the Indonesian revolutionary heroes. She respects Indonesia heroes more. Also, she can encourage her friends to love Indonesia better and to blend in diverse group of ethnics as strong and one Indonesian who support to improve Indonesia. I would like to show that young generations are now lack the spirit to build their country. They forget to become one; One Land, One Nation, One Language. This creative work focuses on how history of Indonesia can help young generations to gain the spirit of Indonesian revolutionary heroes to love and improve Indonesia. To put this issue into a form of entertainment, I decided to make a screenplay which type of genre is adventure fantasy. 


Kebudayaan ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
I Made Sutaba

Archaeological researches in Indonesia have discovered a number of various historical and archaeological artifacts that belong to cultural heritage. As historical evidences, this cultural heritage is an important source of the plural information and messages of the past life of our society. It is remarkable that this cultural heritage has some problems for example problem of typology, function, meanings, and the other for the society. Studying the problems, it is interesting to do research on its function as a teller of the past history that contained various aspects of the life of our society that not yet studied until today. By learning the problems, this research goal is to find the answer of the problems. To reach this goal, we do this research gradually by collecting data through literature study and field observation along with interviews. The next step is analysis carried out through methods of typology analysis, contextual, functional analysis, ethno archaeological and ethno historical approach. Finally the result showed that the function of our cultural heritage is as teller of the many-sided aspects of the past history of our artifacts such as technological aspects, social, and religious aspects but it is impossible to get full completed information due to some reasons. Keywords: archaeological and historical artifacts, cultural heritages, teller of the past.  AbstrakPenyelidikan arkeologi di Indonesia sudah berhasil menemukan artefak sejarah dan arkeologi yang beraneka ragam, yang tergolong sebagai warisan budaya. Sebagai bukti-bukti sejarah, warisan budaya ini adalah sumber informasi dan pesan-pesan kehidupan masyarakat masa lalu yang bersifat pluralistik. Menarik perhatian, bahwa warisan budaya ini mempunyai permasalahan yaitu, permasalahan tipologi, fungsi dan makna dalam kehidupan masyarakat. Mempelajari masalah ini, sangat menarik untuk melakukan penelitian mengenai fungsinya sebagai penutur sejarah masa silam, yang mengandung aneka ragam, aspek kehidupan masyarakat, yang belum dikaji sampai sekarang. Dengan mencermati permasalahan ini, maka tujuan penelitian ini, adalah untuk meneliti permasalahan tadi. Untuk mencapai tujuan ini, penulis melakukan penelitian secara bertahap melalui pengumpulan data dengan metode kajian pustaka dan observasi lapangan yang disertai dengan wawancara. Langkah selanjutnya, adalah melakukan analisis dengan analisis tipologi, kontekstual, analisis fungsional, pendekatan etnoarkeologi dan etnohistori. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa cagar budaya itu berfungsi sebagai penutur kehidupan masa silam yang mengandung aspek yang bersfiat jamak, adalah aspek teknologi, sosial dan religi, tetapi tidak mungkin untuk mendapat informasi yang lengkap karena berbagai faktor.Kata kunci: peninggalan sejarah dan purbakala, warisan budaya, penutur masa silam.


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