There is little research at the international level to help us understand the experiences and needs of trans people living with dementia, despite population aging and the growing numbers of trans people including the first cohort of trans older adults. There is a need to understand the widespread barriers, discrimination and mistreatment faced by trans people in the health and social service system, and the fears trans people express about aging and dementia. Anecdotal evidence from the scarce literature on the topic of LGBTQ populations and dementia suggest that cognitive changes can impact on gender identity. For example, trans older adults with dementia may forget they transitioned and reidentify with their sex/gender assigned at birth or may experience ‘gender confusion.’ This raises crucial questions, for example regarding practices related to pronouns, care to the body (shaving, hair, clothes, etc.), social gendered interactions, health care (continuing or not hormonal therapy) and so on. This article fills a gap in current literature by offering a first typology of responses offered by academics who analyzed the topic of dementia and gender identity, to trans older adults with dementia who may be experiencing ‘gender confusion,’ namely: (1) a gender neutralization approach; (2) a transaffirmative stable approach; and (3) a trans-affirmative fluid approach. After providing critical reflections regarding each approach, we articulate the foundations of a fourth paradigm, rooted in an interdisciplinary dialogue regarding the interlocking systems of oppression faced by trans older adults with dementia, namely ageism, ableism/sanism, and cisgenderism.

No abstract

This paper explores the purpose of walks for co-residing carers of people with dementia, using a social citizenship lens. The findings are based on the first phase of a study examining the everyday experiences of place, space, and neighbourhood of dementia carers. Using three forms of data collection -social network mapping, walking interviews, and participant-driven photography -the study brings forth information about why carers go on walks either alone or with the person with dementia. Carers explained that walks facilitate their connections with themselves, the person with dementia, their social environment, and their natural and built environment. In sum, walks provide a way of practicing and sustaining social citizenship. Carers' discourse about walks highlights their personal, everyday practices and strategies, as well as the larger tensions and contradictions of dementia care. The findings reinforce the need to bring into dialogue, from a carer perspective, a social citizenship model of dementia with the growing interest in dementiafriendly communities.

This article explores the impact of the researcher's reflexivity on the data collection and analysis process in the context of a videographic study of home-based family caregivers of older adults. Going beyond a discussion of the role of the researcher's subjectivity, the article builds on current literature by exploring how the researcher's embodied selfreflexivity can be used to enrich video based research. The article addresses the researcher's personal social location and shifting roles throughout the study and how these impacted on her work with the camera, her moment to moment ethical decisions and her perceptions of the participants' realities. The author illustrates, through the use of journal and transcript excerpts, how the dynamic relationship between the researcher, the participants and the camera creates overlapping and complementary layers of information that together form a cohesive portrait of the action. Throughout, the article discusses the contribution of reflexivity to both the creation and resolution of ethical tensions in the research space. Downloaded from decisions and presence during the filming were central to the creation of the research space and the findings that emerged from the project. Although video data collection and the analysis of social interactions in natural settings have become increasingly popular in the social sciences (Knoblauch and Schnettler, 2012), there is a lack of literature discussing the lived experience of conducting videographic research (Luff and Heath, 2012). This article aims to fill that gap by discussing my experiences during videographic data collection in the context of a specific project, as well as how these experiences shaped, and were in turn shaped by, a myriad of subjective and relational factors. The primary focus of the article is on the interactions between the camera, the researcher and the participants, as well as the ethical tensions to which these interactions gave rise and the impacts on the knowledge creation process.

Using an adapted phenomenological approach, the current study explores older women's stories about the ways in which providing care to their spouse or partner has affected their sexual and intimate lives. Findings suggest that older women's sexual identities and experiences of sexuality are marked by both ageist constructions of ''older woman as asexual'' and loss of self associated with taking on the role of caregiver. Findings also suggest that women resist these constructions of self through the development of other forms of intimacy in their lives. Suggestions for increasing opportunities to address women's realities in service provision are highlighted.

This article discusses the practice implications of videographic research examining the everyday lived experiences of 5 women family caregivers of older adults with chronic illness. The women's nonverbal expressions and gestures revealed how caregiving is accomplished and lived on a daily basis, in particular through emotion and body management, abnegation, and performance. The findings from this microethnographic study suggest that observing women caregivers' everyday experiences can open new avenues for holistic intervention with this population. Observing nonverbal cues can offer a way for practitioners to better understand women caregivers' realities, to question their practice, and to adapt their interventions accordingly.

No abstract

No abstract