Visibility and invisibility in the aged care sector: visual representation in Australian news from 2018–2021

Thomson, T.J.; Miller, Evonne; Holland-Batt, Sarah; Seevinck, Jennifer; Regi, Sam

doi:10.1177/1329878x221094374

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These issues were persistent before the COVID-19 pandemic, with scholars documenting how media imagery during that event has further ostracized this cohort. As analyzed within the Australian context, visual communication researchers Thomson et al ( 2022 ) found news media coverage to be isolating and marginalizing, generic and vague. Their qualitative representation analysis of aged care captured how those in these settings were represented “with a distant, often de-contextualized or trivialized, and non-representative understanding” (p. 16), such as through visual tropes such as aged and wrinkled hands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaining resolution when creating imagery of aging

Sheahan

2022

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In seeking to support healthy aging, designers have struggled to reduce their assumptions and biases toward older adults, been seen to interpret the worlds of later life through unfiltered imagery, as well as engage with stigmas, ultimately diminishing the technologies they construct. This article seeks to critically analyse this state-of-the-art from a design research perspective while engaging with the growing interdisciplinary study of aging and technologies. Toward this, we proposition “resolution” as a concept indicative of the level of detail that seeks to characterize the fidelity that representations of later life have. This concept is explored through a cultural probe study that investigated the sentiments of several older Australians regarding the inequities and social isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing a diary alongside photovoice and mapping tasks, the study captured perceptions of social technology, practices, networks, and wellbeing, offering a diverse and complex picture of aging and technology. Through reflexive thematic analyses of some of these materials, this case study offers designers pathways to understanding and including older adults in their work. In determining the resolution of these images of aging, we discuss how transparency about the limitations and qualities of such participatory methods through incorporating reflexivity can influence the degree of detail such imagery gains. Ultimately this concept builds on the notion of participation configuration, supporting designers to realize better images of aging and representations of later life.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaining resolution when creating imagery of aging

Sheahan

2022

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As the Royal Commission observed, neglect in aged care has continued unabated, with relatively little community engagement or awareness accorded to this important social problem. Media coverage of abuse and neglect in aged care has often focused on depersonalized and anonymized accounts, leading to an absence of individual stories, faces, and voices of older people featured in the stories purportedly reporting on their experiences ( Thomson et al, 2022 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Literary, Found and Research Poetry: New Approaches to Representations of Aging and Aged Care

Holland-Batt

Miller

2023

The Gerontologist

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At a time when rapid population ageing is producing an emphasis on questions of healthy ageing in the public discourse, conditions such as dementia, physical and other disabilities still too often remain taboo, and this is particularly true in relation to the confronting subjects of aged care, neglect, and failures of care provision. This article considers the transformative potential of two different but complementary forms of poetry – research poetry and lyric poetry – to break these silences and represent experiences across the physical and emotional spectrum of ageing, including the perspectives of older people and their families whose experiences are neutral, negative, or even distressing, as well as challenge and counter existing negative stereotypes of ageing in the public and literary realms. Neither research poetry nor lyric poetry are common in gerontological research; however, they offer radical potential to offer insight into the lived realities of older people and their loved ones. Research poetry uses the direct words of older people, drawing on transcripts and found texts, and giving voice to people who otherwise would not be heard. Lyric poetry, by contrast, draws more heavily on literary techniques such as metaphor and direct address to evoke sensory and intimate experiences of ageing and aged care. This paper presents two poems comparing and contrasting the respective processes and techniques of these different poetic forms to represent the imaginary, feared and hoped-for futures of older people, including those in aged care.

show abstract

‘Vulnerable Monsters’: Constructions of Dementia in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care

Chelberg

2023

Int J Semiot Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper argues that while regulatory frameworks in aged care authorise restraints to protect vulnerable persons living with dementia from harm, they also serve as normalising practices to control challenging monstrous Others. This argument emerges out of an observed unease in aged care discourse where older people living with dementia are described as ‘vulnerable’, while dementia behaviours are described as ‘challenging’. Using narrative analysis on a case study from the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (RCAC), this paper investigates how the RCAC (re)produced constructions of persons with dementia as ‘vulnerable monsters’. Drawing upon monstrous theory about ‘unruly and leaky’ bodies, extracts from the case study reveal how the RCAC repeated and reinforced monstrous constructions of dementia. Dementia behaviours, particularly ‘wandering’, were constructed through a dehumanising crisis frame that produced ‘challenging’ bodies and legitimised ‘last resort’ normalising practices, such as physical and chemical restraints. In failing to resist monstrous constructions of dementia behaviours, the RCAC accepted and authorised a regime of scaled responses leading to restrictive practices for control of challenging bodies in aged care. Although dementia care and restrictive practices received substantial attention in the RCAC, this paper reveals a missed opportunity for deeper review of institutionalised use of restraints that has relevance for ongoing reform of Australian aged care following conclusion of the RCAC.

show abstract

Visibility and invisibility in the aged care sector: visual representation in Australian news from 2018–2021

Cited by 9 publications

References 31 publications

Gaining resolution when creating imagery of aging

Gaining resolution when creating imagery of aging

Literary, Found and Research Poetry: New Approaches to Representations of Aging and Aged Care

‘Vulnerable Monsters’: Constructions of Dementia in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About