Facility caregivers of persons with dementia in residential facilities often find themselves mistaken by residents for people from the residents' past. Such episodes of mistaken identity are usually considered a sign of impairment and simply ignored. This study presents vignettes in which facility caregivers played roles from the resident's past, briefly and without rehearsal or deliberation. During these episodes, residents were able to experience a continuity of identity, a sense of belonging, and a recognition for past accomplishment. This article argues that these brief episodes of mistaken identity were spontaneous opportunities to preserve the personhood of persons with dementia.
Hands-on caregivers in long-term care facilities often describe their work as being "like family." The literature has not sufficiently explained what like family means. This qualitative study analyzes the reports of 23 facility caregivers about what they found rewarding in their work. Six participants described how they remembered family members while on the job. They remembered family members they cared for or wanted to care for. Family members who had passed away were also remembered by 2 of the 6 participants. Remembering family members allowed participants to feel close to their loved ones and see their work as giving back.
Graduate programs of social work have been challenged to define how the advanced generalist con centration differs from the generalist training at the baccalaureate level. This teaching note likens the generalist to a bricoleur, or skilled handyman. A role-based portrait of the advanced generalist is offered, which describes how skills of the bricoleur are transcended. Examples suggest how these definitive skills can be realized in a graduate program. The portrait is then found to be compatible with a set of advanced generalist practice behaviors and an advanced generalist exam required for licensure by several states.
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.