Lives in Transition: Meaning Making and the Early Experience of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Over the last decade the rise of the person with dementia as a legitimate focus of research, policy and practice attention has been one of the major advances in the dementia care field. Whilst such progress is to be welcomed there remains significant gaps in understanding that may impede the forging of genuine partnerships with people with dementia and their families. Using grounded theory (Glaser, 1978) and narrative interpretation as the main methodological approach, this chapter will explore the meaning of assessment for a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease as it was lived by those in the sample (N=15) who attended a memory clinic in one health district in England