ALL BEHAVIOUR HAS MEANING: CONCEPTUALIZING CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS IN DEMENTIA CARE

Abstract

“All behaviour has meaning” is one of the central tenants of dementia care research and education. Yet, the question, “What is behaviour?” is often left unasked within dementia care research, education, practice and policy. Drawing from perspectives in cultural gerontology, interpretive sociology and critical disability studies, this presentation theorizes ‘challenging’ assumptions about behaviour in discourses of dementia care. Our constructivist conceptual analysis of behaviour leads to a consideration of the behaviourist tradition in psychology, and the biopsychosocial model of dementia care and Thomas Kitwood’s and Carl Rogers’ seminal works on meaning, personhood and relationships. Within this tradition and these works, what behaviour means and why it matters is informed by ideas about adaptation and adjustment; concepts which posit behaviour as an expression (and measure) of the ‘person-environment fit’, and by virtue of that, a means of recognizing some people as out of place. Through unpacking the meaning of behaviour as a ‘challenging assumption’ in dementia care, we trace the relations between behaviour and personality. We contend that scholarly work of this nature within gerontology is critical to understanding the social significance of person-centred dementia care, and the challenges and opportunities a behaviourist approach poses for recognizing personhood in dementia.