Enacting agency: movement, dementia, and interaction

ABSTRACT

Background

Arts-based programs can counter the dominant narrative of loss associated with dementia, in part through fostering expressions of agency. This study uses social science theories of interaction between structure and agency to examine how an arts-based movement program, entitled Mouvement de passage, supports agency among individuals with dementia.

Methods

Ethnographic methods were used to trace how participants enact agency within the structure of the movement program. The program’s sessions were video recorded and iteratively analyzed.

Results

Participants expressed their agency in three ways: 1) transforming the exercise’s structure according to individual interests and desires; 2) resisting the exercise’s structure; and 3) improvising movements collectively.

Conclusions

The movements of individuals with dementia were shaped by both program structure and individual/collective expressions of agency. The design of Mouvement de passage, based on open-ended structures and voluntary participation, provides a template for developing interventions that foster agency among these persons.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• persons with dementia
• arts-based interventions
• ethnographic methods
• video analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute of Aging [CIHR-SII-150704]; Alzheimer’s Society of Canada [#17C].