- Title
- Holding on while letting go: trauma and growth on the pathway of dementia care in families
- Creator
- McCormack, Lynne; Tilock, Katrina; Walmsley, Bruce D.
- Relation
- Aging & Mental Health Vol. 21, Issue 6, p. 658-667
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1146872
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Objectives: Limited research explores the medical model of residential care in dementia from the family caregiver's perspectives. Method: This study sought subjective interpretations of nine family caregivers who experienced relinquishing their status as primary caregiver to a medical model, dementia care residential setting. Following semi-structured interviews and transcription data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: One superordinate theme, navigating ‘system’ control, overarched three subordinate themes: connecting/disconnecting, windows closing, and capacity for sensation. Navigating system control reflected participants' experience of circumnavigating a medical system fraught with hierarchical challenges inclusive of a complex maze of contradictions that appeared threatening, yet appeared comforting; authoritarian, yet often humane. For them, care of self, while advocating for a family member with dementia, required vigilance to manoeuvre a system of care that imposed its uninvited authority at will. Connection/disconnection highlights the enduring struggle for inclusivity in caregiving despite the omnipresent trauma of windows closing. Psychological growth came to these participants through an unexpected capacity for sensation which offered a unique lens to communication with the family member with dementia primarily through sensory exchange. Conclusions: Models of dementia care and therapeutic interventions could inclusively involve dementia family caregivers who may be experiencing traumatic distress, and associated guilt, stigma, loss, and grief. Co-existing psychological wellbeing, however, is possible when family members are encouraged to transition communication to sensory awareness and exchange as windows close.
- Subject
- interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); medical model of dementia care; trauma; families and dementia; growth and psychological wellbeing
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1329825
- Identifier
- uon:26248
- Identifier
- ISSN:1360-7863
- Rights
- This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor and Francis in Aging and Mental Health on 16/02/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13607863.2016.1146872.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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