Research centre
Art and Design Research Centre

Date
2012

Who Cares? This research employed creative methods to enable carers of people with dementia to articulate their experiences

Who Cares? is a research project funded through the ADRC which sought to explore the use of objects and metaphors as a means of enabling individuals to articulate their experience of caring for a person with dementia.

The research team engaged with groups of carers in a series of workshops using visual and physical metaphors, readings and games in group settings. The aim was to provide the carers with an opportunity to speak in a secure and supportive environment. Appropriate prompts, props and questions guided the discussion in each of the workshops. With the participants’ consent the sessions were videoed and sound recorded which enabled us to capture many of the rich narratives and insights that would otherwise have been lost as conversations moved with increasing momentum from person to person and topic to topic.

Accounts of misdiagnosis, violent behaviour, worry, distress and a loss of self were punctuated with instances of joy and delight. The potential of what we were doing became clear when a participant declared that she had never before told anyone the story she had just recounted.

Researchers involved

Jackie Leaver - Design Researcher

Dr Claire Craig - Member of Lab4Living, Senior Lecturer Occupational Therapy

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