CONCEPTUAL DESCRIPTION AND PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNING OF THE SOCIAL INTERVENTION ‘ALZHEIMER WHISPERING’

Abstract

People suffering from dementia are at risk of social exclusion and isolation. To improve andenrich social interactions with their family members and professional caretakers an arts-based improvement method AlzheimerWhispering (AW) was developed. This ‘whispering’ refers to the ability to open up to the inner world of the person with dementia. The method shifts the focus from a diagnostic-behavioural deficit based approach to an approach aiming at relational connection with the otherness of the other. This article is the result of a research project aiming to describe the intervention developed under direction of Adelheid Roosen - a Dutch theatre maker -and its philosophical underpinnings.

Keywords

• alzheimer's disease, family, communication, art-based intervention, care, photographs