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Chapter 24 - Understanding the Person with Dementia

A Clinico-Philosophical Case Discussion

from Section 4 - Law, Ethics, and Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2020

By
Julian C Hughes  and
Aileen Beatty
Edited by
Julian C. Hughes  and
Philippa Lilford
Julian C. Hughes
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Philippa Lilford
Affiliation:
Severn Deanery, University of Bristol
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Summary

This chapter considers the notion of personhood and shows how it offers a robust conceptual underpinning to person-centred care. We use a fictitious case vignette to clarify the nature of personhood. Although the vignette is fictional, it is based on an amalgam of real and made-up cases. We believe it would seem a familiar story to most people who know or care for people with dementia. We contend that we need a broad view of personhood, which we feel is best captured by regarding the person as a situated embodied agent (SEA), which will be explained. Using this characterization, we aim to demonstrate how it can underpin the notion of person-centred care and show the practical implications of this in connection with our fictitious case. The broad view supports a specific approach to people with dementia, but also shows the challenges that face the implementation of good-quality dementia care.

Type
Chapter
Information
Clinical Topics in Old Age Psychiatry , pp. 317 - 327
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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