Do I have symptoms of dementia - a discursive study of awareness and shame among people with advanced dementia

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Authors
Kłosińska, Urszula
Leszko, Magdalena
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Date
2024-08
Publisher
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The Gerontologist
Issue
8
Volume
64
Pages
Pages
1-31
DOI
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0016-9013
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https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/geront/gnae067/7687875?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Access date
2025-06-05
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
Background and Objectives: This study explores the narrated experiences of individuals with advanced stages of late-onset dementia, focusing on their diagnosis awareness. Such framing is motivated by two reasons. Firstly, there is a lack of consensus regarding the prevalence of anosognosia among people with dementia. Secondly, research on anosognosia often neglects to address the important issues of shame and stigma associated with receiving a dementia diagnosis. Research Design and Methods: For this qualitative study, a total of 27 participants ranging in age from 66 to 94 were involved. The data collected were analyzed using textual-oriented discourse analysis. Results: Our findings indicated that individuals with dementia struggled to comprehend the medical terminology used to describe their experiences within biomedical standards. The interviewees utilized five negative discourses on dementia, which shaped their attitudes toward the condition and people diagnosed with it. These discourses depicted dementia as an illness, negative ageing, a devaluation, a burden, and a life tragedy. Moreover, study participants did not outright reject the diagnosis but rather negotiated its acceptance within the context of shame associated with dementia. Discussion and Implications: The concept of anosognosia can serve as a mechanism of social control and stigmatization of people with dementia within the dominant biomedical discourse.
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Keywords PL
Keywords EN
dementia
advanced stage
awareness
anosognosia
shame
critical discourse analysis
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https://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/717
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