Impact of reminiscence-based services provided by archives for people with dementia

ABSTRACT

Many archives provide reminiscence-based services for people with dementia. Considering that there are currently 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, a figure which is expected to rise to over 1 million by 2020, makes these services extremely significant because of the impact they can have on an individual with dementia. Through exploring and answering the questions: what is the suitability of archives providing reminiscence-based services and what is the impact of such services, its value can be understood. By collecting and analysing questionnaire and interview responses, an understanding of the suitability of the services was gained. This qualitative methodology demonstrated that archives, through their association as memory institutions, the material they contain, and the physical space, all provide evidence of its suitability. To assess the impact of the services, evaluation is necessary, something that is not currently carried out, partly due to the lack of an appropriate framework being in place. By developing and adapting the available frameworks from the wider arts and health literature an appropriate framework has been suggested in this study.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• archives
• reminiscence
• memory
• access

Notes

1. Alzheimer’s Society, “Dementia and the Brain”; and Kamaruzaman, Anwar, and Azahari, “Role of Dynamic Visual,” 258.

2. Alzheimer’s Research UK, “Types of Dementia,” paragraph 1.

3. Miller and Morris, The Psychology of Dementia, 16.

4. Capstick and Ludwin, “Place Memory and Dementia,” 158.

5. Butler, “The Life Review,” 66; and Gibson, The Past in the Present, xi.

6. Gibson, “What Can Reminiscence Contribute,” 48.

7. Gibson, The Past in the Present, xviii.

8. Ibid.

9. Woods, “Dementia,” 257–258.

10. Melunsky et al., “The Experience of Family Carers,” 843.

11. Oxford English Dictionary, “Social Psychology”.

12. Gibson, The Past in the Present, 7.

13. Bruce and Schweitzer, “Working with Life History,” 207.

14. Department of Culture, Media and Sport, The Culture White Paper, 15.

15. Oakley and Naylor, New Directions in Social Policy, 38.

16. Ibid., 38–39.

17. Woods and Clare, “Psychological Interventions with People,” 533.

18. Subramaniam and Woods, “The Impact of Individual Reminiscence,” 545.

19. The National Archives, Archives Unlocked, 10.

20. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry Report, “Creative Health”.

21. Gibson, The Past in the Present, 172.

22. Taylor et al., A Review of the Social, 71.

23. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry Report, “Creative Health,”; and Woods, “Dementia,”, 257–258.

24. House of Memories, “Evaluation and Reports,” paragraphs 2 and 4.

25. Arts Council England, “Celebrating Age,” paragraph 1.

26. Museum, Libraries and Archives Council, “Responsibilities Transfer,” paragraphs 2–4.

27. BBC Research and Development, “BBC RemArch”.

28. Chatterjee and Noble, Museums, Health and Well-Being, 39; and Marks and Spencer Company Archive, “Community Groups and Reminiscence,” paragraph 7.

29. Millar, “Touchstones,” 105.

30. Ibid., 114.

31. Luminet and Spijkerman, “‘11 November 1918, an exceptional day!’,” 348.

32. Ibid., 353.

33. See note 4 above.

34. DCDC Conference, “DCDC 18 Panel Sessions”, paragraph 4.

35. The National Archives Head of Research, Conversation, 10 August, 2017.

36. Ibid.

37. Carnwarth and Brown, Understanding the Value, 9.

38. The Oxford English Dictionary, “Usefulness, n.”.

39. See note 37 above.

40. Pickard, Research Methods in Information, 14.

41. Mann, The Research Interview, 40.

42. Questionnaire Response 4.

43. Interview B, Personal Interview, 26 July, 2017.

44. Interview A, Personal Interview, 14 July, 2017; and Sutcliffe, Introducing Dementia, 96.

45. See note 43 above.

46. Questionnaire Response 2; and Questionnaire Response 7.

47. Hamilton quoted in Burnside, “Themes and Props,” 158.

48. Interview A, Personal Interview, 14 July, 2017.

49. Burnside, “Themes and Props,” 156.

50. Interview C, Personal Interview, 27 July, 2017.

51. See note 43 above.

52. Questionnaire Response 5; Questionnaire Response 7; and Questionnaire Response 9.

53. Questionnaire Response 8.

54. See note 50 above.

55. See note 53 above.

56. See note 50 above.

57. See note 48 above.

58. Crowther, “Dementia Friendly Arts Venues Alzheimer’s Society”.

59. Interview C, Personal Interview, 27 July, 2017; and Interview A, Personal Interview, 14 July, 2017.

60. See note 19 above.

61. Lin et al., “Hearing loss and incident dementia,” 218.

62. Ibid.

63. Ibid.

64. Menne-Haritz, “Access — The Reformulation,” 57.

65. Dementia Action, “Dementia Friendly Physical Environments Checklist”.

66. Kimmel, Dementia Toolkit for Small, 4; 22.

67. Questionnaire Response 3; Questionnaire Response 6; Questionnaire Response 7; and Questionnaire Response 10.

68. See note 43 above.

69. Ruddock, Evaluation; A Consideration, 9; and Shishkova, How to Assess, 10.

70. Daykin and Joss, Arts for Health, 6.

71. Shishkova, How to Assess, 10.

72. Clift and Camic, “Introduction to the Field,” 11.

73. See note 43 above.

74. Stoner et al., “The Development and Preliminary Psychometric Properties,” 72.

75. Ibid.

76. Remembering Yesterday Caring Today Projects, “RYCT: a long-running project”; and Schweitzer, Innovative Approaches to Reminiscence, 178.

77. Melunsky et al., “The Experience of Family Carers,” 844; and Woods et al., “REMCARE,” ii.

78. Melunsky et al., “The Experience of Family Carers,” 854.

79. Ibid., 856.

80. Social Value International, The Seven Principles, 1.

81. Big Lottery Fund, Wellbeing Programme, 3.

82. Putz et al., “Using WEMWBS To Measure,”; and National Health Scotland, “The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)”.

83. Putz, et al., “Using WEMWBS”.

84. Big Lottery Fund, Wellbeing Programme, 8.

85. See note 50 above.

86. Ibid.

87. See note 48 above.

88. See note 43 above.

89. Patton, Qualitative Research and Evaluation, 152.

90. Griffiths, et al., “Mementos from Boots,” 1.

91. Ibid., 5–6.

92. Griffiths, et al., “Mementos from Boots,” 2: The study focuses on olfactory stimulation and multisensory interventions for dementia and it builds on the existing research, such as Cochrane reviews and RCTs. It considers the limitations of such research, particularly in that qualitative approaches may be most suitable, which was the approach undertaken for their study.

93. Nesta, Guidance for Developing a Theory, 1–2.

94. Ibid., 2.

95. Daykin and Joss, Art for Health, 5.

96. Taylor et al., A Review of the Social, 68.

97. Nesta, Guidance for Developing a Theory, 4.

98. Daykin and Joss, Arts for Health, 11.

99. Interview A, Personal Interview, 14 July, 2017; and Interview C, Personal Interview, 27 July, 2017.

100. See note 97 above.

101. Fancourt and Poon, “Validation of the Arts,” 140.

102. Ibid., 148.

103. Ibid., 142.

104. Ibid., 143.

105. Ibid., 153.

106. Woods, “Dementia,” 257–258.

107. Millar, “Touchstones,” 105; and Capstick and Ludwin, “Place Memory and Dementia,” 158.

108. See note 12 above.

109. Interview C, Personal Interview, 27 July, 2017; and Questionnaire Response 2.

110. Before I Forget, Research Network Meeting, 19 July, 2017; and Griffiths, et al., “Mementos from Boots,” 1.

111. The National Alliance for Museums, Health & Wellbeing, paragraph 1.