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Entering the dialogue

Marriage biographies and dementia care

University of Manitoba, Canada, j.davies{at}mts.net

David Gregory

University of Lethbridge, Canada, david.gregory{at}uleth.ca

Classic research and care traditions concerned with dementia (biomedical, psychological and sociological) have mainly focused on the person with dementia and his/her spousal caregiver as individuals living in parallel. That is, couples are not really considered as living-in-relationship. Researchers, for example, have examined the relative impact of burden and stress on people with dementia and their spouses. People living with dementia and their partners as care providers, however, are fundamentally living-in-relationship. In general, it is the historical and contextual bond found in the marital relationship, and in particular the commitment to the marriage, that influences how dementia is encountered and lived by couples. Relationships, as articulated in the marriage biography, allow us to understand dementia and its effect on the interaction of partners and families as a potentially important resource. The couples' marriage biography can potentially provide an understanding of the interaction between marital relationship (its quality) and dementia. The impact of dementia on the person/spouse and the marital relationship, as well as the impact of the marital relationship on the dementia experience, should be of central concern to researchers and health care providers.

Key Words: commitment • living-in-relationship

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