Gaining access to unspoken narratives of people living with dementia on a hospital ward – a new methodology
Gaining access to unspoken narratives of people living with dementia on a hospital ward – a new methodology
Background
This is a methodological paper that aims to advance the conceptualisation of participatory research by focusing on the value of capturing and understanding movement as a vital means of communication for older people with dementia in a general hospital ward. Qualitative research involving people with dementia tends to be word-based and reliant upon verbal fluency. This article considers a method for capturing and understanding movement as a vital means of communication.
Method
This narrative enquiry is underpinned by the model of social citizenship that recognises people with dementia as citizens with narratives to share. The study focused on spontaneously produced conversations that were video recorded and analysed through a lens of mobility. This enabled each participant to share what was important to them in that moment of time without always using words.
Findings
The study findings showed that people with dementia have narratives to share, but these narratives do not fit the bio-medically constructed model that is generally expected from patients. Utilising a mobilities lens enabled the narratives to be understood as containing layers of language. The first layer is the words; the second layer is gestures and movements that support the words; and the third layer is micro movements. These movements do not only support the words but in some cases tell a different story altogether.
Conclusion
This methodology brings attention to layers of communication that reveal narratives as a mobile process that require work from both the teller and the listener to share and receive. Movements are shown to be the physical manifestations of embodied language which when viewed through a lens of mobility enable a deeper understanding of the experience of living with dementia when an inpatient. Viewing narratives through a mobilities lens is important to the advancement of dementia and citizenship practices.
communication, dementia, hospital, micro-mobility, mobility, movement, narrative, video
Collins, Pippa
fe6b5667-6513-4d20-8728-fbae7bb76a4a
Bridges, Jackie
57e80ebe-ee5f-4219-9bbc-43215e8363cd
Bartlett, Ruth
b059d54d-9431-43a8-9d1d-19d35ab57ac3
August 2023
Collins, Pippa
fe6b5667-6513-4d20-8728-fbae7bb76a4a
Bridges, Jackie
57e80ebe-ee5f-4219-9bbc-43215e8363cd
Bartlett, Ruth
b059d54d-9431-43a8-9d1d-19d35ab57ac3
Collins, Pippa, Bridges, Jackie and Bartlett, Ruth
(2023)
Gaining access to unspoken narratives of people living with dementia on a hospital ward – a new methodology.
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 38 (8), [e5987].
(doi:10.1002/gps.5987).
Abstract
Background
This is a methodological paper that aims to advance the conceptualisation of participatory research by focusing on the value of capturing and understanding movement as a vital means of communication for older people with dementia in a general hospital ward. Qualitative research involving people with dementia tends to be word-based and reliant upon verbal fluency. This article considers a method for capturing and understanding movement as a vital means of communication.
Method
This narrative enquiry is underpinned by the model of social citizenship that recognises people with dementia as citizens with narratives to share. The study focused on spontaneously produced conversations that were video recorded and analysed through a lens of mobility. This enabled each participant to share what was important to them in that moment of time without always using words.
Findings
The study findings showed that people with dementia have narratives to share, but these narratives do not fit the bio-medically constructed model that is generally expected from patients. Utilising a mobilities lens enabled the narratives to be understood as containing layers of language. The first layer is the words; the second layer is gestures and movements that support the words; and the third layer is micro movements. These movements do not only support the words but in some cases tell a different story altogether.
Conclusion
This methodology brings attention to layers of communication that reveal narratives as a mobile process that require work from both the teller and the listener to share and receive. Movements are shown to be the physical manifestations of embodied language which when viewed through a lens of mobility enable a deeper understanding of the experience of living with dementia when an inpatient. Viewing narratives through a mobilities lens is important to the advancement of dementia and citizenship practices.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 1 August 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 16 August 2023
Published date: August 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Pippa Collins was supported by a PhD studentship award from the Alzheimer's Society UK and the work was supported by the National Institute of Health and Care Reserach ARC Wessex. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the funders, NHS or Department of Health and Social Care.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Alzheimer's Society for funding this research and the participants and staff at the acute trust in which the research was undertaken. This work comprised part of a PhD funded by the Alzheimer's Society and the University of Southampton.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords:
communication, dementia, hospital, micro-mobility, mobility, movement, narrative, video
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481306
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481306
ISSN: 0885-6230
PURE UUID: b9f25025-21ca-47b6-b681-89426c0f894f
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Date deposited: 22 Aug 2023 16:57
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:19
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Pippa Collins
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