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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Using Retinal Imaging to Study Dementia
Published on: November 6, 2017
Dementia diary: a personal and professional journal
1School of Social Work, Simmons College, Boston, MA 02115, USA. carol.swenson@simmons.edu
Abstract:
This article is not traditional social work writing, because it is in the form of a memoir. It offers a window into lived experience, from which most professional writing is more distant. It explores the last year of life of an elderly woman, seen through the eyes of her daughter-in-law, who is a social worker and social work educator. The article chronicles the day-to-day experiences of progressive memory loss and the challenges of caregiving. Social work can develop similar narratives of other life experiences that can increase its practitioners' understanding and wisdom.
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