Weicht Bernhard, Tolhurst Edward
Department of Sociology, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
School of Health, Science and Wellbeing, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DE, UK.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Aug 3;11(15):2191. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11152191.
A strong emphasis is consistently placed upon the relational basis of experience within social scientific dementia research. Within this research corpus, the concept of couplehood is increasingly employed, albeit in rather undefined and loosely theorised ways. Moreover, the evaluation highlights that couplehood is often defined by a normative position that seeks to convey an affirmative perspective on dementia and spousal relationships. The lack of theoretical foundation, however, weakens the explanatory potential of the concept, both for theorising dementia, as well as for empirical research. This article critically evaluates the utility of the couplehood concept by delineating three underlying theoretical conceptions: phenomenological, interactional and relational perspectives. It will be argued that those theoretical threads offer different analytical angles and research opportunities. More thorough ontological development, however, can guide understandings of the complexities that underpin the relational experience of dementia. This will promote a conceptual starting point that offers a more balanced and multifaceted accommodation of two persons and their relationship.
社会科学领域的痴呆症研究一直非常强调经验的关系基础。在这个研究体系中，伴侣关系的概念越来越多地被使用，尽管其定义相当模糊，理论化程度也很低。此外，评估强调，伴侣关系往往由一种规范性立场来定义，这种立场试图传达对痴呆症和配偶关系的肯定观点。然而，缺乏理论基础削弱了这一概念的解释潜力，无论是在痴呆症理论化方面，还是在实证研究方面。本文通过阐述三个潜在的理论概念：现象学、互动和关系视角，批判性地评估了伴侣关系概念的效用。将论证这些理论线索提供了不同的分析角度和研究机会。然而，更彻底的本体论发展可以引导我们理解支撑痴呆症关系体验的复杂性。这将促进一个概念起点，为两个人及其关系提供更平衡、多方面的阐释。
