Abstract
This chapter brings together innovative uses of multimedia tools to explore narratives of people living with dementia. The three projects described here share an understanding of the role of narrative-based reminiscing in fostering resilience, particularly as applied to people with dementia. This collective work focuses on supporting people living with dementia, their families, and their communities to sustain resilience and promote well-being. We begin with a discussion of the conceptual foundations underpinning this research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alm, N., Astell, A., Ellis, M., Dye, R., Gowans, G., & Campbell, J. (2004). A cognitive prosthesis and communication support for people with dementia. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 14(1–2), 117–134.
Astell, A. J. (2015). Supporting a good life with dementia. In D. Prendergast & C. Garattini (Eds.), Ageing and the digital life course. Oxford, New York: Berghan Books.
Astell, A. J., Ellis, M., Alm, N., Dye, R., Gowans, G., & Campbell, J. (2005). Using hypermedia to support communication in Alzheimer’s disease: The CIRCA project. In D. Schmorrow (Ed.), Foundations of augmented cognition (pp. 758–767). Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis.
Astell, A. J., Alm, N., Gowans, G., Ellis, M., Dye, R., Campbell, J., & Vaughan, P. (2008). Working with people with dementia to develop technology: The CIRCA and Living in the Moment projects. Journal of Dementia Care, 36–38.
Astell, A. J., Alm, N., Gowans, G., Ellis, M., Dye, R., & Vaughan, P. (2009). Involving older people with dementia and their carers in designing computer-based support systems: Some methodological considerations. Universal Access in the Information Society, 8(1), 49–59.
Astell, A. J., Ellis, M. P., Bernardi, L et al. (2010). Stimulating people with dementia to reminisce using personal and generic photographs. International Journal of Computers in Healthcare, 1(2), 177–198.
Astell, A. J., Ellis, M. P., Alm, N et al. (2010). Using a touch screen computer to support relationships between people with dementia and caregivers. Interacting with Computers, 22(4), 267–275.
Astell, A. J., Malone, B., Williams, G., Hwang, F., & Ellis, M. P. (2014). Leveraging everyday technology for people living with dementia: A case study. Journal of Assistive Technologies, 8(4), 164–176.
Baldwin, C. (2008). Narrative, citizenship and dementia: The personal and the political. Journal of Aging Studies, 1(3), 222–228.
Baldwin, C. (2009). Narrative and decision-making. In D. O’Connor & B. Purves (Eds.), Decision-making, personhood, and dementia: Exploring the interface (pp. 25–36). London: Jessica Kingsley.
Baldwin, C., & Capstick, A. (Eds.). (2007). Tom Kitwood on dementia: A reader and critical commentary. Maidenhead, UK, New York: Open University Press.
Basting, A. D. (2003). Looking back from loss: Views of the self in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 87–99.
Basting, A. (2009). Forget memory: Creating better lives for people with dementia. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Brooker, D. (2004). What is person-centred care in dementia? Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 13, 215–222.
Brooker, D. (2012). Understanding dementia and the person behind the diagnostic label. International Journal of Person-Centred Medicine, 2(1), 11–17.
Caldwell, R. L. (2005). At the confluence of memory and meaning—life review with older adults and families: Using narrative therapy and the expressive arts to re-member and re-author stories of resilience. The Family Journal, 13(2), 172–175.
Chaudhury, H. (2002a). Journey back home: Recollecting past places by people with dementia. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 16(1/2), 85–106.
Chaudhury, H. (2002b). Place-biosketch as a tool in a caring for residents with dementia. Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly, 3(1), 42–45.
Clarke, A., Hanson, E. J., & Ross, H. (2003). Seeing the person behind the patient: Enhancing the care of older people using a biographical approach. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 12, 697–706.
Cohen, G., & Taylor, S. (1998). Reminiscence and aging. Ageing & Society, 18, 601–610.
Cohene, T., Baecker, R., & Marziali, E. (2005). Designing interactive life story multimedia for a family affected by Alzheimer’s disease: A case study. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ‘05, 1300–1303.
Craig, C. (2014). Photography in care homes: Methods for a revealing practice. SAGE Research Methods Cases. Retrieved from http://shura.shu.ac.uk/10415/.
Dementia Action Alliance. Retrieved from https://www.dementiaaction.org.uk.
Dementia Alliance International. Retrieved from https://www.dementia.org.au/resources/dementia-alliance-international.
Fels, D. I., & Astell, A. J. (2011). Storytelling as a model of conversation for people with dementia and caregivers. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 26(7), 535–541.
Gaugler, J. E., Kane, R. L., & Newcomer, R. (2007). Resilience and transitions from dementia caregiving. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 62B(1), 38–44.
Gonzalez, J., Mayordomo, T., Torres, M., Sales, A., & Meléndez, J. (2015). Reminiscence and dementia: A therapeutic intervention. International Psychogeriatrics, 27(10), 1731–1737.
Groenewoud, H., de Lange, J., Schikhof, Y., Astell, A., Joddrell, P., & Goumans, M. (2017). Experiences of people with dementia playing casual games on a tablet. Gerontechnology, 16(1), 37–47.
Hagens, C., Beaman, A., & Ryan, E. B. (2003). Reminiscing, poetry writing, and remembering boxes: Personhood-centered communication with cognitively impaired older adults. Activities, Adaptation, & Aging, 27(3/4), 97–112.
Harris, P. B. (2008). Another wrinkle in the debate about successful aging: The undervalued concept of resilience and the lived experience of dementia. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 67(1), 43–61.
Hellström, I., Nolan, M., & Lundh, U. (2005). ‘We do things together:’ A case study of ‘couplehood’ in dementia. Dementia, 4(1), 7–22.
Hemingway, D., MacCourt, P., Pierce, J., & Strudsholm, T. (2014). Together but apart: Caring for a spouse with dementia resident in a care facility. Dementia, 15(4), 872–890.
Kelson, E. (2006). Supporting personhood within dementia care: The therapeutic potential of personal photographs. Unpublished master’s thesis, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Kensinger, E. A., Anderson, A., Growdon, J. H., & Corkin, S. (2004). Effects of Alzheimer disease on memory for verbal information. Neuropsychologia, 42, 792–800.
Kim, E. S., Cleary, S. J., Hopper, T., Bayles, K., Mahendra, N., Azuma, T., et al. (2006). Evidence-based practice recommendations for working with individuals with dementia: Group reminiscence therapy (care and treatment of dementia). Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 14(3), xxiii–xxxv.
Kitwood, T. (1997). Dementia reconsidered. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Manning, L. K. (2015). Resilience and aging: From conceptual understandings to opportunities for enhancement. The Gerontologist, 55(4), 703–704.
Matthews, N., & Sunderland, N. (2013). Digital life-story narratives as data for policy makers and practitioners: Thinking through methodologies for large-scale multimedia qualitative datasets. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(1), 97–114.
McKinlay, E. (2012). Resistance, resilience, and change: The person with dementia. Journal of Spirituality, Religion and Aging, 24(1–2), 80–92.
Mitchell, W. (2017). Learning new skills with dementia and the advantages they bring. Signpost, 22(3), 9–12. http://dsdc.bangor.ac.uk/documents/Volume22Number3Spring2017.pdf.
Moore, L. A., & Davis, B. (2002). Quilting narrative: Using repetition techniques to help elderly communicators. Geriatric Nursing, 23(5), 262–266.
Neimeyer, R. A., & Levitt, H. (2001). Coping and coherence: A narrative perspective on resilience. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping with stress: Effective people and processes (pp. 47–67). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O’Connor, D., Phinney, A., Smith, A., Small, J., Purves, B., Perry, J., … & Beattie, B. L. (2007). Personhood in dementia care: Developing a research agenda for broadening the vision. Dementia, 6, 121–142.
Ortiz, A., Simmons, J., & Hinton, W. L. (1999). Locations of remorse and homelands of resilience: Notes on grief and sense of loss of place of Latino and Irish-American caregivers of demented elders. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 23, 477–500.
Purves, B., Hulko, W., Phinney, A., Puurveen, G., & Astell, A. J. (2014). Developing CIRCA-BC and exploring the role of the computer as a third participant in conversation. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 30(1), 101–107.
Ripich, D. N., Vertes, D., Whitehouse, P., Fulton, S., & Ekelman, B. (1991). Turn-taking and speech act patterns in the discourse of senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type patients. Brain and Language, 40(330), 343.
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9(1), 1–28.
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 13–39.
Savundranayagam, M. Y., Dilley, L. J., & Basting, A. (2011). StoryCorps memory loss initiative: Enhancing personhood for storytellers with memory loss. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 10(3), 415–433.
Savundranayagam, M. Y., Sibalija, J., & Scotchmer, E. (2016). Resident reactions to person-centered communication by long-term care staff. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 31(6), 530–553.
Sherman, E. (1995). Differential effects of oral and written reminiscence. In B. Haight & J. Webster (Eds.), The art and science of reminiscing: Theory, research, methods and applications (pp. 255–264). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
Small, J. A., & Perry, J. (2005). Do you remember? How caregivers question their spouses who have Alzheimer’s disease and the impact on communication. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48(1), 125–136.
Smith, S. K., & Astell, A. J. (2017). Delivering cognitive stimulation with technology. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 13(7), 1251–1252.
Stenhouse, R., Tait, J., Hardy, P., & Sumner, T. (2013). Dangling conversations: Reflections on the process of creating digital stories during a workshop with people with early-stage dementia. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 20(2), 131–141.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Subramaniam, P., & Woods, B. (2016). Clinical Interventions in Aging, 11, 1263–1276.
Subramaniam, P., Woods, B., & Whitaker, C. (2014). Life review and life story books for people with mild to moderate dementia: A randomized controlled trial. Aging & Mental Health, 16(3), 363–375.
Swaffer, K. (2016). What the hell happened to my brain?: Living beyond dementia. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Tadaka, E., & Kanagawa, K. (2007). Effects of reminiscence groups in elderly people with Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia in a community setting. Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 7, 167–173.
Thompson, R. (2011). Using life story work to enhance care. Nursing Older People, 23(8), 16–21.
Webster, G., Fels, D. I., Gowans, G., & Alm, N. (2010). Portrait: Portraying individuality. In K. Miesenberger, J. Klaus, W. Zagler, & A. Karshmer (Eds.), Computers helping people with special needs. ICCHP 2010. Lecture notes in computer science (Vol. 6180, pp. 576–583). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Woods, B. (1994). Management of memory impairment in older people with dementia. International Review of Psychiatry, 6(2/3), 153–161.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Astell, A.J., Savundranayagam, M.Y., Kelson, E., Purves, B., Phinney, A. (2018). Fostering Resilience in Dementia Through Narratives: Contributions of Multimedia Technologies. In: Resnick, B., Gwyther, L., Roberto, K. (eds) Resilience in Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04555-5_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04555-5_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04554-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04555-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)