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'Oh he was forgettable': construction of self identity through use of communicative coping behaviors in the discourse of persons with cognitive impairments
- Authors:
- SAUNDERS Pamela A., MEDEIROS Kate de, BARTELL Ashley
- Journal article citation:
- Dementia: the International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 10(3), August 2011, pp.341-359.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The focus of this study undertaken in Washington DC was examining and analysing the verbatim linguistic utterances of people with cognitive impairments to describe and compare communicative coping behaviours. The communicative coping behaviours used by individuals with cognitive impairment to present a positive self identity may include memory and health accounts (the way people explain, excuse and/or justify their behaviour) and humour. Two groups of participants aged 65 years and over were recruited: 31 patients with cognitive impairment and 29 patients without cognitive impairment. Clinical encounters between doctors, patients, and third-party companions during routine examinations at the Georgetown University Hospital Neurology Department were observed, recorded and transcribed. The article presents the results of the analysis, with examples from the transcripts, looking at memory accounts, health accounts, and humour exchanges. The results showed that participants with cognitive impairment used more memory accounts than cognitively normal individuals and similar amounts of humour in order to save face and construct a normal identity. The authors note that despite memory impairment, people with cognitive impairments contributed to conversations during their clinical visits and were able to present themselves as productive members of the interaction. They conclude that people with cognitive impairment adapt to their communicative disadvantage and that it is important for doctors and carers to recognise these coping strategies.