Dementia-friendliness: A discursive construct and its implications for occupational therapy practice (July 4, 2023)

Presented by: Tania Erika Aniol Hansen

Living with dementia affects an individual’s physical, mental and social conditions, disrupting their ability to maintain activities of daily living (Jørgensen, 2018). With no pending cure in sight, the expected increase in the number of people with dementia is reflected by the emergence of dementia-friendliness and dementia-friendly initiatives. Occupational therapists are skilled in working activity-based and client-centred within a ‘dementia-friendly frame’. However, what does the term dementia-friendly mean? – are we as professionals sufficiently informed and aware of the values and norms embedded when we 'subscribe' to dementia-friendliness?

This webinar provides an overview of ten discourses constructing dementia-friendliness from an international policy perspective, the perspectives of people living with dementia and their relatives, and from a professional perspective. Participants will be introduced to how the discursive appearance of dementia-friendliness includes implicit and ideological assumptions of rights, knowledge, and identities related to people with dementia and therefore, are co-constituent of the perceptions of dementia-friendliness in everyday life and frame how people with dementia and professionals act, understand and refer to dementia-friendliness. This webinar focuses on how people with dementia and their families ascribe meaning to and discursively construct dementia-friendliness, and how the perspectives contrast with the perspectives of professionals and policies. 

After taking part in this webinar, participants will be able to: 

1. Understand the implications of the contrasting perspectives of dementia-friendliness. 
2. Critically reflect upon their own occupational therapy practice within a dementia-friendly frame.

Level 
Intermediate (3-5 years of experience in this specific area of practice)