The significance of view of life in persons with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract: Making it possible for persons with Alzheimer‟s disease (AD) to retain a sense of identity and personal worth during the process of the disease poses a great challenge to caregivers. The objective of the study was to investigate if the view of life of persons with AD could be understood in the frame of their life story and to elucidate the role of view of life in connection to their sense of identity. The view of life of an individual is defined as a conception of reality, a central system of values and a basic emotional attitude.Twenty-one persons with mild to moderate stages of AD were interviewed about their life story and their view of life. The narratives were interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutic method.Despite their cognitive deterioration it was possible to understand the view of life of the participants in the frame of their life story. Their view of life was not erased by the disease. No exceptional characteristics that could be traced to AD were found in the participants‟ view of life. Their view of life seemed to guide them towards selecting mainly emotionally powerful and value-oriented memories. The origins of their present central values and basic emotional attitude were interpreted to have been established already in early life. A sense of meaningfulness and continuity when looking back on life was also expressed. Despite progressive memory loss and cognitive deterioration, the participants‟ view of life was interpreted as a vital aspect of their sense of identity.The study implicates that knowledge of the view of life of persons with AD is valuable for confirming and supporting their sense of identity.