Theory and methods for research on ethical issues in dementia care

Swedish research on ethical issues in dementia care is almost exclusively done by nursing scientists. Many of these studies are rightfully acclaimed as exemplary research. But the strong focusing on the nurse and her relation to the patient tends to bias the ethical issues--the attitudes of other persons involved or affected are also in need of investigation. Further, there is a predilection for content analysis at the expense of causal analysis. In this paper an eclectic approach to the study of ethical issues in dementia care is advocated. More interdisciplinary communication and co-operation is also needed--especially between nursing scientists and moral philosophers. To facilitate such communication and co-operation a model for analysis of ethical issues is presented and discussed. To illustrate my ideas I use three articles by researchers from the department of advanced nursing in Umeå: Ekman & Norberg (1988), Norberg & Asplund (1990) and Akerlund & Norberg (1989-90).