Intensive Interaction and discourses of personhood: A focus group study with dementia caregivers

Heap, Cheyann J; Wolverson, Emma

Abstract

Introduction: Societal discourses of dementia are medicalised and dehumanising. This leads to a social problem: the loss of personhood in dementia care. The communication technique Intensive Interaction, however, honours personhood. The current study aimed to explore how paid care-givers of people with dementia enact societal discourses of dementia, with and without the context of Intensive Interaction. This was to explore ways to address the loss of personhood in dementia care. Method: Paid caregivers from two residential care homes attended an Intensive Interaction training day. Caregivers participated in focus groups before and after training. Transcripts of the focus groups were analysed with Critical Discourse Analysis, an approach which relates discourse to social power. Results: Before Intensive Interaction training, carers accessed medical discourses of loss, non-communication and lack of personhood. 'Being with' people with dementia was framed as separate to paid work. After training, caregivers accessed discourses of communication and personhood. Intensive Interaction reframed 'being with' people with dementia as part of 'doing work'. Family caregivers were largely absent from discourses. Care home hierarchies and the industrialisation of care were barriers towards honouring personhood. Conclusions: Medical discourses of dementia reinforce a status quo whereby interpersonal interactions are devalued in dementia care, and professional 'knowledge' (thereby professional

Citation

Heap, C. . J., & Wolverson, E. (2020). Intensive Interaction and discourses of personhood: A focus group study with dementia caregivers. Dementia, 9(6), 2018-2037. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301218814389

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 11, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 4, 2018
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Deposit Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Journal: Dementia
• Print ISSN: 1471-3012
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 2018-2037
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301218814389
• Keywords: Intensive Interaction; Adaptive Interaction; Dementia; Personhood; Communication; Caregivers; Training; Discourse analysis; Residential care; Embodiment
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1175251