Meanings of social exclusion and inclusion in relation to older people with dementia in care homes

This thesis explores the meaning of social exclusion in relation to older people with dementia in care homes. Its central objective is to identify the main influences shaping meanings of exclusion and inclusion in this context, and to understand how these influences are personally encountered and countered. The social model of disability underpins and directs the investigation as this framework already offers a convincing account of what social exclusion and inclusion means to people with disabilities. A secondary objective is to therefore evaluate the relevance of this model to understanding the position of this group of people in this setting. A variety of qualitative methods are used to provide a subjectively rich and diverse account of meanings of social exclusion and inclusion in this particular context. Influences shaping meanings of exclusion and inclusion are primarily analysed and explored through the accounts of care home life given by individuals with dementia, their relatives, other residents, home care managers and care workers. In addition, individual care records and organisational policy and publicity are analysed for cultural representations of dementia and disability. It is argued in this thesis that in relation to the people and places involved in this study the core meaning of social exclusion is loss of identity. The main influences leading to this conclusion were social, psychological, economic, organisational and biological in nature and form. In addition, it is argued that while the social model of disability usefully politicises the position of older people with dementia in care homes, the binary opposition on which it is based, namely medical/social, is too simplistic for understanding the complex and fluid relationships, that the people with dementia involved in this study, had with their social world.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2004

Author dc:creator

• Bartlett, Ruth

Contributors dc:contributor

• Boulton, Mary
• Brooker, Dawn

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/8nk3-jk75

OAI identifier oai:identifier

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