Living with Dementia: Lay Definitions of Alzheimer's Disease among African American Caregivers and Sufferers

While the medical world aggressively pursues scientific knowledge about Alzheimer's disease, sufferers and caregivers live with this ailment, not as patients, but as people going about their lives, needing and providing care. This article reports explanations of Alzheimer's from the perspe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Symbolic interaction 2004-05, Vol.27 (2), p.199-222
Main Authors: Belgrave, Linda Liska, Allen-Kelsey, G. Janice, Smith, Kenneth J., Flores, Maritza C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimers disease
Caregivers
Chronic diseases
Dementia
Diseases
Family members
Focus groups
Laypersons
Mothers
Participant observation
Patients
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Summary:While the medical world aggressively pursues scientific knowledge about Alzheimer's disease, sufferers and caregivers live with this ailment, not as patients, but as people going about their lives, needing and providing care. This article reports explanations of Alzheimer's from the perspectives of African American family caregivers and sufferers. Data were collected from thirty-six families using participant observation and focus group interviews. Although caregivers sought and used medical expertise, their explanations of Alzheimer's were not only nonmedical, but not necessarily explanations of illness per se. Alzheimer's was presented instead as a way of being, predominantly characterized by views of the sufferer as childlike and by issues of continuity/discontinuity, though some saw Alzheimer's as part of a larger picture.
ISSN:0195-6086
1533-8665
DOI:10.1525/si.2004.27.2.199