IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v285y2021ics0277953621006262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“The mind may go, but the heart knows”: Emotional care by ethnic minority carers of people living with dementia

Author

Listed:
  • Gilbert, Andrew Simon
  • Antoniades, Josefine
  • Croy, Samantha
  • Brijnath, Bianca

Abstract

Drawing on the sociology of emotions, this article investigates the socially and culturally mediated nature of emotions and emotional care within 93 ethnic minority carers' narratives of dementia care. Adding to the cross-cultural literatures on the sociology of emotions and dementia care respectively, our analysis showed that ‘signals’ of dementia to family carers were often emotional outbursts of anger by the person with dementia. These displays, in turn, created conflict, and aroused emotions such as shame, anger, and depression among carers. To mitigate these tendencies, carers enacted emotional management, which centered on reducing the gravity of negative emotions felt by the person with dementia, and affording them the social space to maintain a positive disposition. To create this positive emotional space, carers deployed different strategies. Some mobilized medical discourses to diffuse the emotional and moral significance of their relative's behavior and enable emotional distantiation. Others conceived of people with dementia as ‘childlike’ and requiring their protection from emotional negativity. Although, such efforts work took a toll on carers' emotional energies, it was considered enabling, therapeutic, and integral to care. Such emotional work departs from academic and advocacy efforts that see such behavior as patronizing and infantilizing, and underscores the need for more nuanced discussion around emotions and dementia care in ethnic minority families.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilbert, Andrew Simon & Antoniades, Josefine & Croy, Samantha & Brijnath, Bianca, 2021. "“The mind may go, but the heart knows”: Emotional care by ethnic minority carers of people living with dementia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:285:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621006262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621006262
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114294?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Boyns & Sarah Luery, 2015. "Negative Emotional Energy: A Theory of the “Dark-Side” of Interaction Ritual Chains," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Davis, Daniel H. J., 2004. "Dementia: sociological and philosophical constructions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 369-378, January.
    3. Gabriele Cipriani & Gemma Borin, 2015. "Understanding dementia in the sociocultural context: A review," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 61(2), pages 198-204, March.
    4. Seaman, Aaron T., 2018. "The consequence of “doing nothing”: Family caregiving for Alzheimer's disease as non-action in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 63-70.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leane, Máire, 2019. "Siblings caring for siblings with Intellectual Disabilities: Naming and negotiating emotional tensions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 264-270.
    2. Atiqur sm-Rahman & Chih Hung Lo & Yasmin Jahan, 2021. "Dementia in Media Coverage: A Comparative Analysis of Two Online Newspapers across Time," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Quach, Sara & Hewege, Chandana & Le, Viet, 2019. "Expression and transformation of loyalty in a contractual service setting: A processual view," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 66-77.
    4. Hamilton, Bridget Elizabeth & Manias, Elizabeth, 2007. "Rethinking nurses' observations: Psychiatric nursing skills and invisibility in an acute inpatient setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 331-343, July.
    5. Hansen, Emily C. & Hughes, Clarissa & Routley, Georgina & Robinson, Andrew L., 2008. "General practitioners' experiences and understandings of diagnosing dementia: Factors impacting on early diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1776-1783, December.

    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:285:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621006262. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.