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How figurative language may be related to formal care-givers’ person-centred approach toward their patients with dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2018

Miriam Ethel Bentwich ,
Ya'arit Bokek-Cohen  and
Nomy Dickman
Miriam Ethel Bentwich*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel
Ya'arit Bokek-Cohen
Affiliation:
Academic College of Administration, Rishon Le-Zion, Israel Mofet Institute, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Nomy Dickman
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. Email: Miriam.Bentwich@biu.ac.il
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Abstract

Person-centred care that respects a patient's personhood is the gold standard in dementia care, which is often difficult to achieve given the complexity of caring for people with dementia. This article delves into the narration style of formal care-givers from a variety of ethno-cultural backgrounds in search of linguistic cues that may be related to their emphasis on a person-centred approach to care. A qualitative study, using a discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews with 20 formal care-givers in an institutional setting, was employed. The care-givers fell into three groups: Arabs, immigrants from the former Soviet Union (IFSU) and Jews born in Israel (JBI). Our results show 20 figurative language expressions (FLEs) in the narratives of the JBI care-givers and 11 among the IFSU care-givers. In contrast, the Arab care-givers conveyed 48 FLEs. Many of the Arab care-givers’ FLEs were not associated with the ‘regular’ domains articulated by other care-givers (family, children, militaristic language) and were primarily individual-focused, emphasising the personhood of the patient. These findings, together with relevant theoretical literature, suggest that the extensive use of figurative language by Arab care-givers may be a possible tool assisting these care-givers to employ a person-centred approach, manifested in their stress on the personhood of the patient. Such tools may be useful for better achieving person-centred care for these patients.

Keywords

person-centred caredementiafigurative languagepersonhoodformal care-givers
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 39 , Issue 12 , December 2019 , pp. 2653 - 2670
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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