Person-centered care, dementia and graphic medicine

Abstract

Dementia is currently promoted as an ‘epidemic.’ Such a figuration not only impacts the afflicted person but also affects caregiving practices. While the medical model solely delves into the histopathological study of dementia, recent research observes that person-centered care practices provide new ways of paying attention to the dementia-afflicted individuals. Graphic medicine is one such site which intervenes and rewrites the dominant narratives of dementia which treat dementia in terms of loss and care burden. Taking these cues, through a close reading of Valérie Villieu and Raphaël Sarfati’s graphic narrative Little Josephine: Memory in Pieces (2020), the present article attempts to investigate cultural alternatives to the demonising figurations of dementia and dementia-related care practices. In so doing, the article not only establishes the increasing role of graphic medicine as a revisionary tool/as a movement but also, through close reading Little Josephine: Memory in Pieces (2020), humanises and reverses dementia care as a ‘burden’.