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Constructing Dementia and Dementia Care

Daily Practices in a Day Care Setting

University of Hull, England, j.r.parker{at}hull.ac.uk

Summary: This article explores the ways in which dementia can be constructed and maintained by the actions, and received ideas concerning dementia, of social care staff practising in a local authority day care setting in the UK. The article is set within the context of ‘daily practice’, the things that we do forming the basis of how things may be (re)defined.

Findings: The study suggests that the physical environment of the day care setting, the routines and activities provided and the practices of care staff indicate three particular ways in which dementia was constructed. These comprised ‘holding and homogenizing’,‘demarcating and distancing’ and ‘caring and controlling’. Each depended on individual approach, training and experience and was influenced by ‘received’ traditional approaches.

Applications: This is important to our understanding of dementia care as we seek to recognize diverse experiences and to consider pluralistic approaches to best practice in dementia care. The study indicates the need for training at a deep and reflective level in which the new culture of person-centred dementia care becomes part of daily practice rather than a distant ideal.

Key Words: daily practices • dementia • family practices

Journal of Social Work, Vol. 5, No. 3, 261-278 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1468017305058935


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