Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
Department of Education, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
J Aging Stud. 2022 Jun;61:101000. doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2022.101000. Epub 2022 Feb 17.
In this article, we argue that investigating and learning about agentive abilities of people living with late-stage dementia requires a theoretical framework that focuses on the use of bodily resources in interpersonal interaction (i.e., intercorporeality) for performing joint activities rather than on solely the use of spoken language. Assisted eating, which involves people living with late-stage dementia and professional carers, is taken as an empirical example. The study is based on observations and video recordings of occasions of assisted eating involving five people with late-stage dementia in a residential elder care home; one of these people is used as an example in this paper. The analysis shows that assisted eating is performed as a joint intercorporeal activity. The participants create joint attentional space and a common space of action for their bodily movements when they give and receive food. The participants engaged in the activity coordinate their bodily moves with each other. The analysis (1) demonstrates that the collaboration between people living with late-stage dementia and nurses is based on practical interdependent and co-operative bodily actions. (2) This makes it possible to better understand agency in terms of intercorporeal interaction displayed by people living with late-stage dementia. (3) The agency demonstrated in intercorporeal interaction is thus considered to be shared and distributed across bodies and requires support to be interactionally achieved. (4) The intercorporeal interaction as grounds for agency not only calls on other participants to note and honor the agency of the person with dementia that is still evident in embodied interaction, but also invites others to support people with dementia to claim and display their agency in social interactions and joint activities.
在本文中，我们认为，研究和了解患有晚期痴呆症的人的代理能力需要一个理论框架，该框架侧重于在人际互动（即主体间性）中使用身体资源来执行联合活动，而不仅仅是使用口语。辅助进食就是一个例子，它涉及到患有晚期痴呆症的人和专业护理人员。本研究基于对五名居住在养老院的晚期痴呆症患者的辅助进食情况的观察和视频记录；本文以其中一名患者为例。分析表明，辅助进食是作为一种联合的主体间活动来进行的。参与者在给予和接受食物时，为身体动作创造了共同的注意力空间和共同的动作空间。参与者在活动中协调彼此的身体动作。分析表明：（1） 患有晚期痴呆症的人和护士之间的合作是基于实际的相互依存和合作的身体动作。（2） 这使得人们能够更好地理解晚期痴呆症患者表现出的主体间互动中的代理能力。（3） 因此，主体间互动中表现出的代理能力被认为是共享和分布在身体之间的，需要通过互动来实现。（4） 作为代理基础的主体间互动不仅要求其他参与者注意到并尊重痴呆症患者在身体互动中仍然明显的代理能力，还要求其他人支持痴呆症患者在社交互动和联合活动中主张和展示自己的代理能力。
