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Humans: An integrative review exploring dehumanisation in advanced dementia
Jesper Bøgmose1, Benjamin Miguel Olivares Bøgeskov1, Tom Dening2
1University College Copenhagen.
Nursing Ethics
|October 24, 2024
Summary
Formal caregivers
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Ethics in Medicine
- Sociology of Health and Illness
Background:
- Advanced dementia can lead to perceptions of lost personhood, a concept explored in dementia scholarship.
- Existential dehumanisation in dementia care negatively impacts ethical practices and the quality of care.
- Recognising factors that foster dehumanisation is crucial for improving dementia care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify perceptions of care recipients with advanced dementia that elicit dehumanising attitudes in formal caregivers.
- To challenge the dehumanisation of individuals with advanced dementia within care settings.
- To inform strategies for enhancing ethical dementia care practices.
Main Methods:
- An integrative review was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl's methodology.
- Analysis included 26 articles encompassing qualitative, quantitative, theoretical, and grey literature.
- The review focused on perceptions of care recipients with advanced dementia leading to dehumanisation.
Main Results:
- Five themes emerged that can foster dehumanising attitudes: perceiving individuals as absurd, shadow, perilous, void, or repugnant.
- These perceptions are argued to stem from unintentional, misled embodied perceptions by caregivers.
- Caregivers need to recognise and resist these embodied perceptions.
Conclusions:
- Challenging dehumanisation in dementia care requires timely identification and reaction to misled embodied perceptions.
- The five identified themes can serve as a warning for caregivers about potential dehumanising attitudes.
- This study aids caregivers in ethically reviewing their perceptions of individuals with advanced dementia.
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