Abstract
This study applies video analysis to an investigation of interactions among people with dementia in a cultural context, specifically a visual art exhibition in a gallery. The study adopts a sociologically informed approach to explore the role of artworks and how these may be beneficial to dementia care, by focusing on meaning-making conversational practices among people living with dementia. The interactions of different individuals with various forms of dementia were recorded during three gallery visits, including their engagement with gallery attendants and artworks. The findings reveal the socially empowering impact of interactions related to artwork, with complex patterns in bodily behaviour and facial expressions meaning that orientation to dementia became negligible. The article makes a contribution to the growing field of sociology of ageing and well-being from an interaction analytic perspective, indicating that cultural values can play a greater role in the care of people living with dementia.
Highlights
Conversation Analysis and Sociology of AgeingConversation analysis (CA) is concerned with the sociological study of interaction in everyday life, including that produced in institutionalised settings
Meaningful Conduct, Arts and Dementia Overall, we found that the activity of exploring and talking about conceptual art with others involves a sharing of personal responses to the art, with each member allowed time and space to present their own viewpoint, and neither viewer accorded epistemic primacy to determine one particular meaning of the artwork, or undermine someone’s else’s interpretation
Our ethnomethodologically oriented framework emphasises an interactive approach to the study of arts interventions in people with dementia by researching meaningful conduct as it unfolds through the use of video analysis
Summary
Conversation Analysis and Sociology of AgeingConversation analysis (CA) is concerned with the sociological study of interaction in everyday life, including that produced in institutionalised settings. This research makes a number of innovative contributions It demonstrates in line with other studies (see for instance the papers presented at the ‘Atypical Interaction Conference’ 2016, Center for Social Practices and Cognition, University of Southern Denmark) the sociological relevance of applying video analysis to a dementia-related setting. It aligns with Büscher (2005), Mittelman & Epstein (2009) as well as Basting et al (2016) to shift the focus to people with dementia and their interactions by capturing their interactions in situ. While such thinking provides a laudable approach, according to the authors of this paper, the research has a number of conceptual, methodological and policy related issues that the present paper aims to overcome
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