Abstract
This paper focuses on highlighting the needs of the aging population specifically relating to persons with dementia, their caregivers, and how the arts empower families and communities to care within their own homes and communities creatively and meaningfully. A revolutionary perspective that connected medical training and treatment with lessons from the humanities earnestly began in the mid-20th century to emphasize the treatment and care of disease as the “science of the human’’. As the field continued to develop, also added were social science methodologies that employed humanistic approaches: e.g., narrative inquiry, discourse analysis, storytelling. These methods promised insightful approaches to medical procedures in which skills such as active listening could provide in-roads to patient experiences and creative approaches to ameliorate pain and suffering. While medical humanities as a movement focused initially on medical education as a way for physicians to see and treat the human being rather than the disease or injury, the application of these methods within treatment naturally followed and the broader concept of health humanities arose. Our presentation provides a collection that draws out researchers’ and clinicians’ health humanities experiences within the context of geriatric care focusing particularly on interactions with persons diagnosed with dementia, staff within traditional residential care facilities, senior centers, and those institutions not originally envisioned or designed as places of aging (e.g., prisons). We bring this research to life by providing an understanding of the practices, research, and activities suitable for the home or institutional context.
Presenters
Lorna SegallDirector / Associate Professor, Music Therapy, University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States Trini Stickle
Associate Professor, English, Western Kentucky University, Kentucky, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Aging, Dementia, Caregivers, Humanities
