Steeman Els, Godderis Jan, Grypdonck Mieke, De Bal Nele, Dierckx de Casterlé Bernadette
Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Health Services and Nursing Research, Catholic University Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Aging Ment Health. 2007 Mar;11(2):119-30. doi: 10.1080/13607860600963364.
Dementia, even at an early stage, may pose problems and challenge one's quality of life. Having accurate knowledge of what one experiences when living with dementia is important for developing proactive care for individuals with dementia and their families. The aim of our Grounded Theory study was to explore what it means for elderly people to live with early-stage dementia. We interviewed 20 elderly people with probable mild dementia and their family members. Living with dementia was often presented as a positive narrative, one that told of only minor problems and which stressed abilities and contentment with life. Being valued, rather than losing one's cognition or identity was central in their experience. More in-depth analyses of participants' narratives revealed, however, that they were constantly balancing their feelings of value and worthlessness, struggling to remain someone of value. This struggle was prompted by threats posed by dementia and by the persons' interactions with others. Superficially, a positive narrative may be understood as a lack of awareness or as denial due to cognitive loss. Our findings suggest, however, that we should look beyond this superficial view and seek to understand the narrative as an expression of one's attempt to counterbalance devaluation.
痴呆症，即使在早期阶段，也可能引发问题并挑战一个人的生活质量。准确了解痴呆症患者的生活体验对于为痴呆症患者及其家人制定积极主动的护理措施至关重要。我们的扎根理论研究旨在探讨老年人患有早期痴呆症意味着什么。我们采访了20名可能患有轻度痴呆症的老年人及其家庭成员。与痴呆症共存往往被描述为一种积极的叙述，只讲述一些小问题，并强调能力和对生活的满足感。被重视，而不是失去认知或身份，是他们经历的核心。然而，对参与者叙述的更深入分析表明，他们不断在自己的价值感和无价值感之间进行权衡，努力保持有价值的自我。这种挣扎是由痴呆症带来的威胁以及他们与他人的互动引发的。从表面上看，积极的叙述可能被理解为缺乏意识或因认知丧失而产生的否认。然而，我们的研究结果表明，我们应该超越这种表面观点，试图将这种叙述理解为一个人试图抵消贬值的一种表达。
