"Seeing me through my memories": a grounded theory study on the use of reminiscence with people with dementia living in long-stay care facilities

This grounded theory study aimed to understand people with dementia, staff and relatives perspectives on reminiscence, its impact on their lives and experience of care and care giving. This study was part of the DARES... [ view full abstract ]

This grounded theory study aimed to understand people with dementia, staff and relatives perspectives on reminiscence, its impact on their lives and experience of care and care giving. This study was part of the DARES (DementiA Education Programme Incorporating REminiscence for Staff) trial (O’Shea et al. 2014). Data were collected across four sites and involved interviewing residents with dementia (n = 11), relatives (n = 5), health care assistants (n = 10), nurses (n = 9) and nurse managers (n = 3). Data were collected from Jan 2009 – November 2011. It was found that reminiscence enabled staff to “see and know” the person beneath the dementia. It acted as “… a key” revealing the person and enabling staff to engage with the person with dementia. The “… key” was two-way in that reminiscence also facilitated residents to interact with staff, in a different way. Knowing the person enabled staff to “understand” (through the lens of the person’s past) and sometimes to “accommodate” the person’s current behaviour. The use of reminiscence also had an impact on the “organisation” but its continued use was mediated by several factors. The theory of “seeing me (through my memories” was generated from the data. This theory explains that through reminiscing and engaging with the person with dementia staff begin to see the person (their personhood) through the mirror of their memories. The processes involved in this will be discussed. This paper will share this theory and explore its implications for practice.