Theatre production: a positive metaphor for dementia care-giving

Abstract

Language can shape and reinforce attitudes and stereotypes about living with dementia. This can happen through use of metaphors. However, common metaphors may not capture the complexity of experience of dementia from the perspective of the individual person or a family carer. This paper presents an alternative metaphor – that of a theatre production – based on the strategies used by carers to support people with dementia to live well in the community. We conducted face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 12 family members caring for someone with dementia in the community in Queensland, Australia. Our aim was to explore the strategies these carers used to provide support. Interview recordings were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. We identified positive care-giving strategies that described multiple roles that carers fulfilled as they felt increasingly responsible for day-to-day decision making. Family carers explained how they supported the person with dementia to remain a central character in their life and continued to support the person to be themselves. To achieve this, family carers embodied roles that we identified as similar to roles in a theatre production: director, stage manager, supporting cast, scriptwriter, and costume designer and wardrobe manager. Our metaphor of a theatre production offers a fresh perspective to explore the experience of informal care-giving in the context of dementia.

The (in)accuracies of floating leaves: How people with varying experiences of dementia differently position the same visual metaphor

“…It is consistently shown that the meanings of metaphors and images are highly subjective and contextual ( ño, 2020 ; Pink, 2011 ; Winter et al, 2020 ). Existing research that incorporates the perspectives of people affected by dementia currently focuses upon researchers’ analyses of people’s verbal or written metaphorical expressions ( Brown Wilson et al, 2021 ; Castaño, 2020 ; Golden et al, 2012 ; Johannessen et al, 2015 ; Peel & Harding, 2014 ; Thorsen & Johannessen, 2021 ; Zimmermann, 2017 ). Yet, metaphors are also manifest in a range of non-verbal communicative modes, including gesture, images, sound and film ( Forceville & Urios-Aparisi, 2009 ; Semino & Demjén, 2016 ).…”