Horizons of Meaning in Dementia: Retained and Shifting Narratives

Abstract

Spiritual care of people with dementia can be challenging, in part because the impact of the disease on personhood is so poorly understood. To address this issue, in-depth interviews with people with dementia were analyzed to uncover the narratives that framed their sense of life as meaningful. Most common were retained narratives showing how meaning was unchanged; however, some were shifting narratives showing how people were finding meaning in new ways of being. Implications for spiritual care are explored.