Recognising the agency of people with dementia

Author:
BOYLE Geraldine
Journal article citation:
Disability and Society, 29(7), 2014, pp.1130-1144.
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis

People with dementia have been assumed to possess weak or even no agency. This article examines their actual potential for agency. The author draws on findings from a qualitative study of everyday decision-making by people with dementia that aimed to identify the role of social factors (such as gender) in influencing their involvement in decisions. Whilst decision-making constitutes a form of deliberative agency, the research also identified when agency was alternatively habituated, embodied or emotional. Existing theoretical perspectives on agency are critiqued, particularly in relation to rationality, language and individualised agency. The study highlighted that people with dementia who lack deliberative capacity can nonetheless demonstrate creative capacity for agency. A more expansive concept of agency is needed in social science theory that is informed by the experiences of cognitively disabled people. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
dementia, mental capacity, decision making, cognitive impairment;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
England
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
1360-0508
ISSN print:
0968-7599

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