Despite the importance and advantages of including people with dementia in research, there are various challenges for researchers and participants to their involvement. This article draws on the literature and experiences of a diverse group of authors, including a person with dementia, to provide recommendations about conducting research with people with dementia. Particular attention is given to in-depth interviews as a qualitative technique. More specifically, topics discussed include interview guide preparation, recruitment, obtaining consent/assent, conducting effective interviews, analysis and interpretation of data, effective communication of research findings, and reflections and recommendations for maintaining researcher and participant health. Given the current obstacles to participation in research of people with dementia, this is a timely article providing useful insights to promote improved outcomes using in-depth interviews.
This paper discusses the annual Elvis Revival Festival in the small town of Parkes, 350 km to the west of Sydney, in rural Australia. It explores the way in which a remote place with few economic prospects has created a tourism product, and subsequently captured national publicity, through a festival based around commemoration of the birthday of Elvis Presley, a performer who had never visited Australia, and certainly not Parkes. The Festival began in the early 1990s, when a keen Elvis fan rallied promoters (and other fans) around the idea of bringing Elvis impersonators to the town for an annual celebration. Since then, the Festival has grown in size, with notable economic impact. The town now partly trades on its association with Elvis, constituting an 'invented' tradition and place identity. Yet the festival is not without tensions. The images of Elvis and the traditions generated by the festival challenge those who wish to promote Parkes through more austere, staid notions of place and identity. For some, Elvis is a means for the town to generate income and national notoriety, while others prefer less 'kitsch' tourism attractions such as a nearby (and nationally famous) radio telescope. Results from interviews with key players and surveys of visitors demonstrate how 'tradition' is constructed in places (rather than being innate), and how small places, even in remote areas, can develop economic activities through festivals, and create new identities -albeit contested ones. Figure 7 Cover of Parkes regional tourism promotion brochure (Source: Parkes tourist information centre 2003). March 2007 • 45(1):71-84 Geographical Research •
Low levels of public understanding can contribute to the fear, stigma and social exclusion associated with living with dementia. Dementia friendly communities aim to address this by empowering people with dementia and increasing their social inclusion. As a part of a Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) process, a multicomponent dementia friendly community intervention supported: research; the establishment of a Dementia Advisory Group and Alliance; an awareness campaign and education in community organisations. Educational events were co-designed and co-facilitated by people with dementia and their care partners. To assess project reach and changes in attitudes of community members, two cross sectional surveys were conducted with adults (aged over 18 years) using validated scales. Independent samples t-tests compared responses to the surveys prior to the commencement of the project (2014) and two years later (2016). In 2016, respondents showed increased agreement with the statements: 'People with dementia participate in a wide variety of activities and interests,' and, 'It is easy to find out about dementia friendly services or organisations in Kiama'. Respondents who attended an educational event reported less negative views about how they themselves would feel if they were diagnosed with dementia compared with respondents who did not attend an event. CBPAR appears useful to support the involvement of people with dementia and the engagement of the community to improve awareness of dementia services. The direct involvement of people living with dementia as spokespeople and educators was an effective way to improve positive attitudes and reduce the negative stereotypes associated with living with dementia. Further research is needed to compare different approaches to the creation of dementia friendly communities in different locations, and to establish the extent to which local interventions are useful to complement efforts to raise awareness of dementia at a national level.
Abstract. This paper discusses a new blend of methods developed to answer the question of where creativity is in the city. Experimentation with new methods was required because of empirical shortcomings with existing creative city research techniques; but also to respond to increasingly important questions of where nascent economic activities occur outside the formal sector, and governmental spheres of planning and economic development policy. In response we discuss here how qualitative methods can be used to address such concerns, based on experiences from an empirical project charged with the task of documenting creative activity in Darwin öa small city in Australia's tropical north. Diverse creative practitioners were interviewed about their interactions with the cityöand hard-copy maps were used as anchoring devices around spatially orientated interview questions. Results from this interview^mapping process were accumulated and analysed in a geographical information system (GIS). Digital maps produced by this method revealed patterns of concentration and imagined`epicentres' of creativity in Darwin, and showed how types of sites and spaces of the city are imagined as`creative' in different ways. Qualitative mapping of creativity enabled the teasing out of contradictory and divergent stories of the location of creativity in the urban landscape. The opportunities which such methods present for researchers interested in how economic activities are`lived' by workers, situated in social networks, and reproduced in everyday, material, spaces of the city are described.
This article stems from a project examining cultural assets in Wollongong – a medium-sized Australian city with a decentralized and linear suburban pattern that challenges orthodox binaries of inner-city bohemia/outer-suburban domesticity. In Wollongong we documented community perceptions of cultural assets across this unusual setting, through a simple public research method. At the city’s largest annual festival we recruited the general public to nominate the city’s most ‘cool’ and ‘creative’ places, by drawing on a map of Wollongong and telling their stories. Hand-drawn maps from 205 participants were combined in a Geographical Information System and 50 hours of stories transcribed for qualitative analysis. Over 2300 places were identified. Among them were some surprising results: although places known for the arts and bohemian creative industries figured prominently, these were not only in the inner-city but in beachside suburbs with unique cultural histories. Also, a range of affective engagements with place, including unconventional forms of creativity, were described in industrial and blue-collar suburbs. Network topology analysis by place of residence also revealed the extent of localism, as well as specializations and aggrandizements among suburbs. Our conclusions are threefold: first, that ‘creativity’ is relationally situated and linked across all parts of the city; second, that decentralized forms of small-scale cultural infrastructure provision are vital for vernacular cultural pursuits; and, third, that ‘creativity’ is a polysemic and contested category – only ever partially revealing the contours of cultural vitality in the suburbs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.