Broadening the debate on creativity and dementia: A critical approach

TY - JOUR

T1 - Broadening the debate on creativity and dementia

T2 - A critical approach

AU - Bellass, Susan

AU - Balmer, Andrew

AU - May, Vanessa

AU - Keady, John

AU - Buse, Christina

AU - Capstick, Andrea

AU - Burke, Lucy

AU - Bartlett, Ruth

AU - Hodgson, James

N1 - © The Author(s) 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2018/4/9

Y1 - 2018/4/9

N2 - In recent years there has been a growing interest in person-centred, 'living well' approaches to dementia, often taking the form of important efforts to engage people with dementia in a range of creative, arts-based interventions such as dance, drama, music, art and poetry. Such practices have been advanced as socially inclusive activities that help to affirm personhood and redress the biomedical focus on loss and deficit. However, in emphasizing more traditional forms of creativity associated with the arts, more mundane forms of creativity that emerge in everyday life have been overlooked, specifically with regard to how such creativity is used by people living with dementia and by their carers and family members as a way of negotiating changes in their everyday lives. In this paper, we propose a critical approach to understanding such forms of creativity in this context, comprised of six dimensions: everyday creativity; power relations; ways to operationalise creativity; sensory and affective experience; difference; and reciprocity. We point towards the potential of these dimensions to contribute to a reframing of debates around creativity and dementia.

AB - In recent years there has been a growing interest in person-centred, 'living well' approaches to dementia, often taking the form of important efforts to engage people with dementia in a range of creative, arts-based interventions such as dance, drama, music, art and poetry. Such practices have been advanced as socially inclusive activities that help to affirm personhood and redress the biomedical focus on loss and deficit. However, in emphasizing more traditional forms of creativity associated with the arts, more mundane forms of creativity that emerge in everyday life have been overlooked, specifically with regard to how such creativity is used by people living with dementia and by their carers and family members as a way of negotiating changes in their everyday lives. In this paper, we propose a critical approach to understanding such forms of creativity in this context, comprised of six dimensions: everyday creativity; power relations; ways to operationalise creativity; sensory and affective experience; difference; and reciprocity. We point towards the potential of these dimensions to contribute to a reframing of debates around creativity and dementia.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1177/1471301218760906

DO - 10.1177/1471301218760906

M3 - Article

C2 - 29631495

SN - 1471-3012

JO - Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice

JF - Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice

ER -