Re-Walking the City: People with Dementia Remember.
Capstick, Andrea Chatwin, John
Capstick, Andrea
Chatwin, John
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2012
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Abstract
In recent years walking interviews have emerged as a valuable alternative to the standard research interview, particularly in studies related to place, community, and the urban environment (Clark and Emmel 2010). Although there is little literature on the use of walking interviews with people who have dementia, the method is particularly appropriate for this participant group, due to the strong memories for place and past events that are usually retained by people with dementia, even when short term memory deteriorates (Chaudhury 2008). Narrative biography work with people who have dementia shows a repeated tendency to use geographical markers as ¿signposts¿ to particular memories (Bryce et al 2010). In 2010 the authors piloted the use of walking interviews with three people with dementia within a care home environment. The film record of the process suggests that the combination of physical movement and reminiscence which was involved both facilitated and enhanced communication for people with dementia. These findings led to the present work which is based on walking interviews with people who have dementia in places which have particular meaning for them, such as the street where they grew up; the school they attended; a former workplace; public park; sports ground or other familiar space. The oral presentation will include film clips, contrasting ¿static¿ communication with each participant, with his or her verbal production, or non-verbal communication, in response to environmental prompts and recovered sights and sounds. In addition, we will draw on the film data to explore a series of thought-provoking questions related to changing inner and outer landscapes, the vagaries of memory, and the psychogeography of dementia. Can the frequently pathologised ¿wandering¿ of people with dementia in time and space be rehabilitated using situationist concepts such as the dérive and the flaneur?
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Capstick A and Chatwin J (2012) Re-Walking the City: People with Dementia Remember (Invited panel presentation). University of Edinburgh; Royal Geographical Society/International Geographical Society Conference, 3-5 July 2012.
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