IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v235y2019ic11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On being outdoors: How people with dementia experience and deal with vulnerabilities

Author

Listed:
  • Bartlett, Ruth
  • Brannelly, Tula

Abstract

Vulnerability is a problematic label routinely applied to people with dementia, yet their situated experiences of vulnerability have not been prioritised or documented. Drawing on empirical data collected using a novel methodology - walking interviews with 15 people with dementia living in Southern England, followed by a sit-down interview that included a nominated family member - this paper advances understanding of how vulnerability is experienced and dealt with by people with dementia when outdoors, and at times shared with family carers. Data were analysed using abductive techniques; a thematic coding framework was created from the dataset, in addition to the application of critical theories of vulnerability and disability. We found that vulnerability is characterised by a sense of ‘ontological vulnerability’ for the person diagnosed with the condition - that is, an awareness of failing knowledge about oneself or the ‘rules’ of outdoor life, which individuals experienced emotionally and dealt with civically. People with dementia attempted to manage risks and anxieties, often doing this independently so as not to burden family members. These findings highlight how people with dementia experience and deal with vulnerability when outdoors, which others need to acknowledge and support to enable people with dementia and their families to work though these challenges, in a family-orientated way when risk planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartlett, Ruth & Brannelly, Tula, 2019. "On being outdoors: How people with dementia experience and deal with vulnerabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1-1.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:235:y:2019:i:c:11
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619303119
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clark, Andrew & Campbell, Sarah & Keady, John & Kullberg, Agneta & Manji, Kainde & Rummery, Kirstein & Ward, Richard, 2020. "Neighbourhoods as relational places for people living with dementia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    2. Habran, Yves & Küpers, Wendelin & Weber, Jean-Christophe, 2024. "Reconceiving vulnerabilities in relations of care how to account for and deal with carers’ vulnerabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    3. Jacoba Huizenga & Aukelien Scheffelaar & Agnetha Fruijtier & Jean Pierre Wilken & Nienke Bleijenberg & Tine Van Regenmortel, 2022. "Everyday Experiences of People Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-25, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:235:y:2019:i:c:11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.