Sharing the Journey: Exploring a Social Leisure Program for Persons with Dementia and Their Spouses

ABSTRACT

In this article, we highlight the marginalization and exclusion persons with dementia and their spouses often face in leisure practices and spaces. We then explore aspects of a peer-led community social program aimed at inclusion. Framed in creative analytic practice, the experiences of members of the social program are shared through a composite narrative. This narrative tells the story of a couple from the point of diagnosis who seek support and education and eventually find deep social connections with others who are on a shared journey. We draw from this narrative to explore meanings of inclusion for spousal couples on the dementia journey and use a social justice lens to consider how to address experiences of exclusion in leisure practices and spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• creative analytic practice
• dementia
• inclusion
• narrative
• social justice

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Community-University Research Alliances Program. We also acknowledge Sian Lockwood, Knowledge Translation Specialist for the PiDC Alliance, and the spirited members of the advisory group: Sheila and Guy Ballon, Anne and Ron Hopewell, Barbara and Terry Hunt, Chris Gawron and Keith Turner, Monique and Gerald Laderoute, Betty and Gary Padereski. Thank you all for taking the time to share your wisdom, sense of humour, and zest for life. We enjoyed every minute of our time together.