Journal Facts

Journal
International Journal of Self-Help and Self-Care
ISSN
1091-2851 (print) 1541-4450 (electronic)
Volume
6
Issue
1
Date
1/1/2012

Article Facts

Title
Reframing Dementia in Swedish Self-Help Group Conversations: Constructing Citizenship
DOI
10.2190/SH.6.1.c
Author
Linda Örulv
Pages
9-41
Online Date
01/23/2012

Article Links

Reframing Dementia in Swedish Self-Help Group Conversations: Constructing Citizenship

Linda Örulv

DOI: 10.2190/SH.6.1.c

Abstract

This study explores on a micro-level the activity of a self-help group for persons with dementia in Swedish municipal care, based on audio-recordings from 18 months' ethnographic fieldwork. The study focuses on the discursive construction of a shared meaning perspective and its inherent possibilities for liberation. Applying a citizenship perspective, the study approaches people with dementia as vulnerable to marginalization while at the same time capable of agency within the boundaries of their condition. The findings paint a complex picture involving opportunities and limitations of experiential knowledge, issues of double stigmatization, and constructs of being interrelated with other people and with the surrounding society. In the center is the overarching struggle of retaining citizenship in the face of the evolving disease.

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