One of the challenging consequences of dementia is the change in relationships that can co-occur with the progression of this condition. Despite this well-documented change, few arts-based interventions target the relational dimension of dementia. This study aims to explore the effects of one arts-based relational intervention: a movement program designed to foster connections within a group of persons with dementia. We used ethnographic methods—including participant observations and informal interviews—to understand the relational effects of this program conducted by two dancers and a musician. The movement sessions were video recorded, and participant movement trajectories were analyzed for different ways in which they created connections. We identified two types of connections—nonreciprocal and reciprocal—and four subtypes of connections—connection to exercise/music, connection to participant, interpersonal connection, and group connection—that participants engaged in during the movement program. Despite most participants not remembering the previous movement sessions, they experienced increasing numbers of connections over the course of the program, particularly reciprocal interpersonal connections. Participants explored new forms of moving and creatively transformed the movement structures proposed by the dancers. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of this program in augmenting connections and fostering exploration and creativity in individuals with dementia, providing a template for further developments of interventions targeting the relational dimensions of dementia. This study also highlights the potential of combining ethnographic methods and video analysis to include the perspectives of persons with dementia in research.
Background The harmful use of alcohol is one of the leading health risk factors for people’s health worldwide, but some populations, like people who experience homelessness, are more vulnerable to its detrimental effects. In the past decades, harm reduction interventions that target these complex issues has been developed. For example, wet services include a wide range of arrangements (wet shelters, drop-in centers, transitory housing, etc.) that allow indoor alcohol use and Managed Alcohol Programs provide regulated doses of alcohol in addition to accommodation and services. Although the positive impacts of these interventions have been reported, little is known about how to integrate the knowledge of people experiencing homelessness and alcohol dependence into the design of such programs. The aim of this study is to present the findings of such an attempt in a first wet service in Montreal, Canada. Methods Community based participatory research approach and qualitative methods—including semi-structured interviews and focus groups—were used to collect the knowledge of potential users (n = 34) of the wet service. The data collected was thematically analyzed. Results Participants reported experiencing harsh living conditions, poverty, stigmatization and police harassment, which increased their alcohol use. The intersection between participants’ alcohol dependence and homelessness with the high barriers to access public services translated into their exclusion from several of such services. Participants envisioned Montreal’s wet service as a safe space to drink, a place that would provide multiple services, a home, and a site of recovery. Conclusions Integrating the knowledge of potential users into the design of harm reduction interventions is essential to develop better and more adapted services to meet complex needs. We propose that it could fosters users’ engagement and contribute to their sense of empower, which is crucial for a group that is typically discriminated against and suffers from marginalization.
Background People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by harms related to alcohol use. Indeed, their alcohol dependence is associated with numerous physical and mental health problems along with strikingly high rates of alcohol-related mortality. Recent research has extensively examined alcohol use patterns among people experiencing homelessness in an effort to develop interventions and treatments for this problem. However, only a few studies have incorporated the perspectives of the individuals under study about their drinking or examined the ways in which they manage the associated harms. To bridge this gap, we conducted a qualitative study exploring the relation between the drinking motives, risky drinking patterns and harm reduction practices of a group of people (n = 34) experiencing homelessness in Montreal, Canada. Methods The qualitative methods we used consisted of semi-structured interviews (n = 12) and focus groups (n = 2, with a total of 22 participants). The content of the collected data was then analyzed. Results Participants identified their various motives for alcohol use (coping with painful memories, dealing with harsh living conditions, socializing/seeking a sense of belonging, enjoying themselves/having fun); their risky drinking patterns (binge drinking, mixing alcohol with drugs, non-beverage alcohol drinking, failing to keep sufficient alcohol on hand to prevent acute withdrawal, drinking in public settings); their harm reduction practices (planning how much to drink, keeping a supply of alcohol to prevent acute withdrawal, hiding to drink, concealing alcohol, drinking alone, drinking/hanging out with others, drinking non-beverage alcohol, and taking benzodiazepines, cocaine or other stimulant drugs); and the rationales underpinning their alcohol use and harm reduction practices. Conclusion Associating the drinking motives of a group of study participants with their risky drinking patterns and harm reduction practices shed light on their rationales for alcohol use, yielding insights that could be used to better tailor policies and interventions to their needs.
Interpersonal physiological synchrony has been successfully used to characterize social interactions and social processes during a variety of interpersonal interactions. There are a handful of measures of interpersonal physiological synchrony, but those that exist have only been validated on able-bodied adults. Here, we present a novel information-theory based measure of interpersonal physiological synchrony—normalized Symbolic Transfer Entropy (NSTE)—and compare its performance with a popular physiological synchrony measure—physiological concordance and single session index (SSI). Using wearable sensors, we measured the electrodermal activity (EDA) of five individuals with dementia and six able-bodied individuals as they participated in a movement activity that aimed to foster connection in persons with dementia. We calculated time-resolved NSTE and SSI measures for case studies of three dyads and compared them against moments of observed interpersonal connection in video recordings of the activity. Our findings suggest that NSTE-based measures of interpersonal physiological synchrony may provide additional advantages over SSI, including resolving moments of ambiguous SSI and providing information about the direction of information flow between participants. This study also investigated the feasibility of using interpersonal synchrony to gain insight into moments of connection experienced by individuals with dementia and further encourages exploration of these measures in other populations with reduced communicative abilities.
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.