We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Preserving the ‘‘us identity’’ through marriage commitment while living with early-stage dementia.
- Authors
Davies, Judie C.
- Abstract
Recognizing the impact of marriage commitment to living with early-stage dementia has important implications for developing proactive care for individuals with dementia and their families. This mixed method study of six couples experiencing early-stage Alzheimer’s dementia explored how married couples experienced the meaning of commitment through memory loss represented by the transitional process of pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis. Narrative analysis was used to identify shared themes from couples’ accounts through semi-structured interviews and supported by questionnaires related to commitment and marriage satisfaction. Couples’ commitment was expressed by four major themes: ‘partnership for life’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘resilience’, and ‘forgiveness’. Couples’ experienced an undisturbed, enduring commitment to their relationship in spite of the diagnosis of dementia. The ‘us identity’ of the couple, living-in-relationship, remained intact. Couples considered the challenge of dementia to be a collaborative venture — a journey into the unknown.
- Subjects
MANITOBA; ALZHEIMER'S disease; MARRIAGE &; psychology; ADAPTABILITY (Personality); PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation; CAREGIVERS; COMMITMENT (Psychology); CONTENT analysis; FAMILIES; FORGIVENESS; INTERVIEWING; RESEARCH methodology; MEMORY disorders; RESEARCH evaluation; PSYCHOLOGICAL resilience; STATISTICAL sampling; SATISFACTION; SELF-evaluation; GENDER role; SOCIAL classes; PSYCHOLOGY of Spouses; SYMBOLIC interactionism; WHITE people; QUALITATIVE research; FAMILY relations; QUANTITATIVE research; SOCIAL support; NARRATIVES; EDUCATIONAL attainment; THEMATIC analysis; DYADIC analysis (Social sciences); FAMILY roles; BURDEN of care; SEVERITY of illness index; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
Dementia (14713012), 2011, Vol 10, Issue 2, p217
- ISSN
1471-3012
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/1471301211398991