Facilitation of positive social interaction through visual art in dementia: a case study using video-analysis

Abstract

The aims of this exploratory study were: to investigate the process of visual art appreciation in a person with dementia, in real time; and to test the feasibility of using video-analysis as a method to explore this process by and with a person who has minimal verbal expression. Gallery personnel guided a woman with severe dementia around an exhibition. Audio-visual recordings of the interactions were analysed. Patterns were identified, and interpreted in the light of conversation analysis theory and research. Evidence was found of turn-taking vocalisations on the part of the research participant. Her participation in a dialogical process was facilitated by the skilled and empathic gallery personnel in ways that the analysis makes clear. We argue that this supports the inference that successful communicative acts took place, contrary to expectations in the light of the participant's level of disability. We demonstrate in this paper how a woman with minimal speech due to dementia was enabled to engage with visual art through the facilitation of an expert guide, attuned to her needs. This is a novel example of a person-centred approach, because it takes place outside the context of caring, which is the typical setting for examining person-centred ways of relating to individuals with dementia.

Art Training in Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Participants were able to decide on their level of engagement in the program, ranging from sitting with the group while being exposed to the art lessons, art supplies, learning tools, group discussions and imagery, to doing all that while creating multiple artworks each day and showing their work at the end of the class. This is in line with the related literature, with a focus on supporting participant growth, success, individuality, and personhood; highlighting participants’ active contributions and strengths as opposed to emphasizing their limitations ( Ullán et al, 2013 ; Flatt et al, 2015 ; Sauer et al, 2016 ; Schneider et al, 2019 ).…”

“…The first study is an RCT (n = 39) 1 Alzheimer's disease (Kahn-Denis, 1997;Fornazzari, 2005), vascular or multiinfarct dementia (depending upon where the stroke-related lesions occurred; Stewart, 2004), and fronto-temporal dementia (Kleiner-Fisman and Lang, 2004;Fornazzari, 2005). 2 The majority of the literature focuses on either an unspecified type of dementia or a specified mixture of dementia types (Kahn-Denis, 1997;Rentz, 2002;Stewart, 2004;Kinney and Rentz, 2005;Rusted et al, 2006;Byrne and MacKinlay, 2012;Ullán et al, 2013;Camic et al, 2014Camic et al, , 2015Young, 2014;Flatt et al, 2015;Young et al, 2015;Sauer et al, 2016;Windle et al, 2018b;Schneider et al, 2019). comparing a 12-week coloring group to a 12-week calculation drill active control group (Hattori et al, 2011).…”

“…It appears that the potential to create art does not diminish when an individual develops dementia. Instead, individuals who develop varying forms and severities of dementia display a remarkable ability to produce and participate in arts activities ( Kleiner-Fisman and Lang, 2004 ; Mendez, 2004 ; Fornazzari, 2005 ; Van Buren et al, 2013 ; Schneider et al, 2019 ). These reports fit within the known progression of three of the most prevalent forms of dementia: typically, memory and executive function impairments occur first, while visuomotor and severe visuospatial deficits occur later ( Perry and Hodges, 1999 ; Camic et al, 2014 ; Chancellor et al, 2014 ; Ehresman, 2014 ) 1 .…”

“…Since cognitive decline is a core feature of all forms of dementia, assessing the potential cognitive benefits of any dementia intervention is essential. From the mere appreciation of art (receiving and processing information), to the creation of art (processing, planning, manipulating, revising, recalling, and producing an artwork), to the communication that occurs between participants and group members and facilitators (sharing and updating information), art training is intuitively a cognitive exercise that requires multiple cognitive domains including recall ( Baddeley and Logie, 1999 ; Bhattacharya and Petsche, 2002 ; Pérez-Fabello and Campos, 2007 ; Takahashi and Hatakeyama, 2011 ; Young, 2014 ; Windle et al, 2018a ; Schneider et al, 2019 ). Further, while not yet supported by quantitative data, it has been suggested that working memory is a particularly relevant component of visual art participation: researchers suggest that the mental maintenance and manipulation of visual imagery is of exceptional relevance to artistic ability and production ( Baddeley and Logie, 1999 ; Pérez-Fabello and Campos, 2007 ; Takahashi and Hatakeyama, 2011 ; Young, 2014 ).…”

Conduct in Dementia: Video Analysis of Arts Interventions

“…This facility forms the basis for carrying out video analysis of interactional events, but it also allows researchers to perform different types of analysis on the data, for example, acoustic analyses of particular turns or utterances (this was especially relevant when analysing data which featured a participant whose speech was so severely affected that she was only able to produce non-linguistic vocalisations, Schneider et al, 2018) or multimodal practices in turn-design.…”