%0 Journal Article
%T Agency and Communion in People with Alzheimer¡¯s Disease, as Described by Themselves and their Spousal Carers
%A Astrid Norberg
%A Ingrid Hellstr£¿m
%A Ragnhild Hedman
%J Dementia
%@ 1741-2684
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1471301217706268
%X Agency (individuality) and communion (togetherness) are vital to a positive sense of self. People with Alzheimer¡¯s disease are at risk of experiencing diminished agency and decreased communion. Their family members¡¯, especially their partner¡¯s, view on their agency and communion is also likely to influence their sense of agency, communion, and self. In the present study, individual interviews with 10 people with Alzheimer¡¯s disease and their spousal carers were qualitatively analysed to describe how in each couple the two spouses viewed the agency and communion of the person with Alzheimer¡¯s disease from an individual perspective. The findings show that the carers generally described the agency of the person with Alzheimer¡¯s disease as slightly weaker compared with the persons with Alzheimer¡¯s disease themselves. The carers also appeared to have poor knowledge of what supported and threatened the sense of communion of the person with Alzheimer¡¯s disease
%K agency
%K Alzheimer¡¯s disease
%K communion
%K self
%K spousal relationships
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1471301217706268