Category Archives: dementia

The end of a conversation?

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Bruce Davenport

I’ve had a couple of conversations which went along the lines of “Have you read the REMCARE report? It shows that reminiscence work has negative effects on participants.” It seemed as though these colleagues felt that this was the end … Continue reading →

Posted in dementia, measurement of impact, qualitative methods, reminiscence, research methodology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

ICCHS and Beamish Museum projects

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

Originally posted on ICCHS Research:
ICCHS staff are working with colleagues at Beamish Museum to investigate the impact of the museum’s work with older people in two, separate projects. Beamish Museum is an open air museum which tells the story…

Posted in ageing, cultural participation, dementia, measurement of impact, museums, reminiscence | 2 Comments

A taxonomy of moments

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

A while ago, I wrote a speculative blog-post wherein I imagined the visit of an elderly couple to an art gallery to take part in some creative activity. I wrote it in order to expound some ideas I had about … Continue reading →

Posted in cultural participation, dementia, museums, social psychology, wellbeing | Leave a comment

Social Identity and Reminiscence – SCT – (2 of 3)

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

This post was prompted partly by the reading I’ve been doing on social psychology but also partly through watching a video produced by the Danish museum, Den Gamle By (The Old Town). Staff at Den Gamle By have done a … Continue reading →

Posted in ageing, Cognition, dementia, reminiscence, social psychology | 1 Comment

unexpectedly social objects

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

Back in October, there was an interesting edition of ‘Thinking Allowed’ wherein Laurie Taylor (2014) interviewed academic, Julia Twigg, about some research that she and her researcher, Christina Buse, did on the ways that women with dementia use their handbags … Continue reading →

Posted in ageing, dementia, developmental psychology, Objects, reminiscence, resilience, wellbeing | Leave a comment

Some nuggets about music and dementia

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Bruce Davenport

In the past, when I’ve been talking to people who care for people with dementia or museum staff who work with people with dementia, I’ve heard statements like: “[Edith] hardly ever speaks but when we put this CD on she … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, dementia, music | Leave a comment

A tiny epiphany

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Bruce Davenport

A few weeks ago I was at choir practice. Our leader was getting us to go back to a song that we hadn’t sung for a while. To encourage us she said (something like), “Don’t worry you’ll remember it. Think … Continue reading →

Posted in dementia, memory | Leave a comment

Experiential Blindness

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Bruce Davenport

Imagine a huge field strewn with rocks, perhaps like the fields around West Kennet Long Barrow, littered with hunks of flint. Now picture the field is full of academics hurling the rocks at each other, occasionally with epithets. So there … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, dementia, Perception | 2 Comments

episodic memory – highlights from a thesis

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Bruce Davenport

About a month ago I had an interesting discussion with Prof. Postma at Utrecht University. During the course of the discussion he recommended a PhD thesis by Olga Meulenbroek on “Neural Correlates of Episodic Memory in healthy aging and Alzheimer’s … Continue reading →

Posted in ageing, Cognition, dementia, memory | 1 Comment

Imagining pathways to impact

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Bruce Davenport

The previous entry was based on some speculative ideas; this one leaps into a speculative/imaginative domain in order to work through some ideas that have been niggling me. I have various bug-bears… I find the rhetorical insistence on the centrality … Continue reading →

Posted in cultural participation, dementia, measurement of impact, memory, museums, object handling, wellbeing | 1 Comment