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The experience of family carers attending a joint reminiscence group with people with dementia: A thematic analysis.

Melunsky, N; Crellin, N; Dudzinski, E; Orrell, M; Wenborn, J; Poland, F; Woods, B; (2013) The experience of family carers attending a joint reminiscence group with people with dementia: A thematic analysis. Dementia , 14 (6) pp. 842-859. 10.1177/1471301213516332. Green open access

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Abstract

Reminiscence therapy has the potential to improve quality of life for people with dementia. In recent years reminiscence groups have extended to include family members, but carers' experience of attending joint sessions is undocumented. This qualitative study explored the experience of 18 family carers attending 'Remembering Yesterday Caring Today' groups. Semi-structured interviews were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: experiencing carer support; shared experience; expectations (met and unmet), carer perspectives of the person with dementia's experience; and learning and comparing. Family carers' experiences varied, with some experiencing the intervention as entirely positive whereas others had more mixed feelings. Negative aspects included the lack of respite from their relative, the lack of emphasis on their own needs, and experiencing additional stress and guilt through not being able to implement newly acquired skills. These findings may explain the failure of a recent trial of joint reminiscence groups to replicate previous findings of positive benefit. More targeted research within subgroups of carers is required to justify the continued use of joint reminiscence groups in dementia care.

Type: Article
Title: The experience of family carers attending a joint reminiscence group with people with dementia: A thematic analysis.
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/1471301213516332
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1471301213516332
Language: English
Additional information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page(http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).
Keywords: RYCT, caregiving, dementia, family carers, psychosocial interventions, reminiscence, thematic analysis
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1417569
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