Heather Wilkinson
Biographic Data
| ID | 108217 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Heather Wilkinson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Heather |
| FAMILY NAME | Wilkinson |
| SIGNATURE | WILKINSON H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8570-3351 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 92 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1953 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Developing Core Competences for Working Therapeutically With People With Dementia and Their Families
The Unexpected Value of the Future
Various philosophers accept moral views that are impartial, additive, and risk-neutral with respect to betterness. But, if that risk neutrality is spelt out according to expected value theory alone, such views face a dire reductio ad absurdum. If the expected sum of value in humanity's future is undefined—if, e.g., the probability distribution over possible values of the future resembles the Pasadena game, or a Cauchy distribution—then those view…
Making Ageing-in-Place Work
Over recent decades, there have been substantial global shifts in policy and public preferences towards ageing-in-place. This change, while desirable for many older people, also comes with costs, trade-offs and work, placing the onus on individuals, their families and communities to 'make ageing-in-place work' through care, maintenance, and social connection. To understand individuals' agency and capacity in this context, this article examines th…
Flummoxing expectations
Expected utility theory often falls silent, even in cases where the correct rankings of options seems obvious. For instance, it fails to compare the Pasadena game to the Altadena game, despite the latter turning out better in every state. Decision theorists have attempted to fill these silences by proposing various extensions to expected utility theory. As I show in this paper, such extensions often fall silent too, even in cases where the correc…
Aggregation in an Infinite, Relativistic Universe
Aggregative moral theories face a series of devastating problems when we apply them in a physically realistic setting. According to current physics, our universe is likely infinitely large , and will contain infinitely many morally valuable events. But standard aggregative theories are ill-equipped to compare outcomes containing infinite total value. So, applied in a realistic setting, they cannot compare any outcomes a real-world agent must ever…
Egyptology and fanaticism
Various decision theories share a troubling implication. They imply that, for any finite amount of value, it would be better to wager it all for a vanishingly small probability of some greater value. Counterintuitive as it might be, this fanaticism has seemingly compelling independent arguments in its favour. In this paper, I consider perhaps the most prima facie compelling such argument: an Egyptology argument (an analogue of the Egyptology argu…
The Moral Inefficacy of Carbon Offsetting
Many real-world agents recognise that they impose harms by choosing to emit carbon, for example, by flying.Yet many do so anyway, and then attempt to make things right by offsetting those harms.Such offsetters typically believe that, by offsetting, they change the deontic status of their behaviour, making an otherwise impermissible action permissible.Do they succeed in practice?Some philosophers have argued that they do, since their offsets appea…
Couples with intellectual disability where one partner has dementia – a scoping review exploring relationships in the context of dementia and intellectual disability
Relationships and marriages between couples with intellectual disability are to be celebrated, as is the longer life expectancy now enjoyed by many with intellectual disability. However, dementia disproportionately affects people with intellectual disability, especially people with Down's syndrome. Research into experiences of couples without intellectual disability who are affected by dementia suggests that a relational perspective provides heal…
What are the research priorities in dance for dementia? A co-created agenda to support equitable research
This is the first co-produced agenda for the field of dance for dementia. Underpinned by diverse perspectives and lived experience, it outlines themes and associated research questions that can be used in future research
Appraisal self-respect
Despite the widely accepted recognition of the notion of self-respect and its importance for emotional well-being, it has received scant attention in the psychological literature. We report on the development and validation of a scale to measure trait (character-based) appraisal self-respect (ASR), conceptualised as a disposition to perceive or appraise oneself as being a respectworthy honourable person. We tested the factor structure, reliabilit…
Infinite Aggregation and Risk
Aggregative theories of moral value have difficulty in ranking worlds that each contain infinitely many valuable events. And, although there are several existing proposals for doing so, few provide a cardinal measure of each world’s value. This raises the even greater challenge of ranking lotteries over such worlds: without cardinal values, we cannot apply expected value theory. How, then, can we compare such lotteries? To date, we have just one …
What is my experience of what I am in relation to people who I have shared my life with for the last 34 years?”
Old age is still an under-researched stage in the lives of people with a learning disability. Providing support to people towards the end of their lives can be challenging for services and involves complex ethical decision-making processes. This study explores the experiences of social care staff in two life-sharing communities where adults with a learning disability and staff live together. Four main themes were identified, highlighting differen…
Can Risk Aversion Survive the Long Run
Can it be rational to be risk-averse? It seems plausible that the answer is yes-that normative decision theory should accommodate risk aversion. But there is a seemingly compelling class of arguments against our most promising methods of doing so. These long-run arguments point out that, in practice, each decision an agent makes is just one in a very long sequence of such decisions. Given this form of dynamic choice situation and the (Strong) Law…
In Defense of Fanaticism
Which is better: a guarantee of a modest amount of moral value, or a tiny probability of arbitrarily large value? To prefer the latter seems fanatical. But, as I argue, avoiding such fanaticism brings severe problems. To do so, we must (1) decline intuitively attractive trade-offs; (2) rank structurally identical pairs of lotteries inconsistently, or else admit absurd sensitivity to tiny probability differences; (3) have rankings depend on remote…
Market Harms and Market Benefits
Until the early 2000s, grain collected from the quinoa plant was eaten almost exclusively in its native Peru and Bolivia. But that changed rapidly as western shoppers learned of its nutritional properties—between 2005 and 2015, the amount of quinoa shipped out of Peru and Bolivia grew more than tenfold.11 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Crops,” accessed July 5, 2021, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC. With residents…
Infinite aggregation
A public inconvenience
This coproduced study drew on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to inform a Human Rights-based design. Using photographic images and reflective diaries, twelve participant co-researchers investigated the quality of public toilets when travelling in Scotland for people with dementia and other physical and cognitive impairments. Data were analysed using constant comparison and critically reflexive, group enqui…
Tackling dementia globally
ementia is a costly neurodegenerative disease that affects 47 million people worldwide. This figure is predicted to rise to 75 million by 2030 and 132 million by 2050 Currently, the majority of people (approximately 63%) living with dementia are in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and due to their large rapidly ageing populations, this number is going to continue to grow. For example, the Global Health Epidemiology Reference Group (GHERG) …
Developing evaluation of signage for people with dementia
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to to describe development of a framework for use in the evaluation of the effectiveness of signage to assist people with dementia. Design/methodology/approach The study consisted of two parts. Workshops held in both Sydney and Edinburgh using “world café” methodology with 28 knowledgeable participants produced a pool of statements. These were subsequently used in a three-round Delphi process administered to 3…
The Novel Use of Life Grids in a Phenomenological Study of Family Carers of People With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and Dysphagia
Life grids have been used in qualitative studies for the last two decades. They provide an activity which researcher and participant can focus their attention on, help build rapport, and reduce the control the researcher may hold within a session. Here we describe the novel use of life grids at the end of a data collection phase. Used in this previously unreported way, life grids assisted the closure of the data collection phase by summarizing th…
I just want to get on with my life’
The active management of the experience of living with dementia appears to improve quality of life despite the lack of disease modification. However, research to date has been largely of modest scale and explanatory factors for improvements have been under-conceptualised. Thus, although promulgated through national strategies, the evidence base is relatively weak. This paper reports on a nation-wide study of the influence of the National Dementia…
A Seat Around the Table
The involvement of "people with experience" in research has developed considerably in the last decade. However, involvement as co-analysts at the point of data analysis and synthesis has received very little attention-in particular, there is very little work that involves people living with dementia as co-analysts. In this qualitative secondary data analysis project, we (a) analyzed data through two theoretical lenses: Douglas's cultural theory o…
How practitioner-led research could have greater impact
Literature about practitioner research focuses on the production of research or building of research capacity, with limited exploration of the wider contribution that practitioner research can make to knowledge mobilisation (KM). This paper draws on findings from a practitioner research project to explore how practitioner research can facilitate KM. We suggest that more would be achieved if KM initiatives were informed by a holistic model which r…
Daring to tell
Learning to live with a diagnosis of dementia is a complex process. Being able to talk about the diagnosis to others represents a major challenge for some people with dementia. This study explores the experiences of people with dementia, and members of their families, around the task of informing others during the six months immediately following their diagnosis of dementia. Five people with dementia living in the community, and their immediate f…
Organisational space for partnership and sustainability
National policy initiatives are faced with challenges in their partnership development and sustainability. The National Dementia Strategy for England recommended Dementia Adviser (DA) and Peer Support Network (PSN) services and 40 demonstration sites were established. In this paper, we report on the national evaluation of these demonstration sites, with specific reference to aspects of organisational development. The research used a mixed-methods…
We didn’t know it would get that bad’
The aim of the present paper was to examine some views and experiences of dementia among older South Asian people, as well as their families and carers, and to explore central issues of service support. Data were collected in Scotland through interviews with 11 professionals working with South Asian people with dementia, and four case studies of South Asian people with a diagnosis of dementia, as well as their families and carers. The case studie…
A collaborative approach to defining the usefulness of impact
This paper reports on a knowledge exchange project involving academics and practitioners in six local authority social work departments. It contributes to recent debates about the coproduction of knowledge, presenting findings in three key areas: the importance of relationships for knowledge exchange; ‘what works’ for practitioners engaging with academics; and the value of practitioner research for enabling knowledge exchange. It also considers t…
Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work
The participation of service users in the planning and delivery of social work services has become a familiar objective in the UK. Policy injunctions, however, mask a lack of clarity around what is meant by terms such as ‘participation’ and ‘engagement’. Moreover, since many service users do not engage with social workers voluntarily, the expectation that they become centrally involved in the planning and delivery of services highlights tensions …
A Seat Around the Table
The involvement of "people with experience" in research has developed considerably in the last decade. However, involvement as co-analysts at the point of data analysis and synthesis has received very little attention-in particular, there is very little work that involves people living with dementia as co-analysts. In this qualitative secondary data analysis project, we (a) analyzed data through two theoretical lenses: Douglas's cultural theory o…
Reframing risk management in dementia care through collaborative learning
Risk management is a complex aspect of practice which can lead to an emphasis on maintaining physical safety, which impacts on the well-being of people with dementia. Education for practitioners in risk management is particularly challenging because of its conceptual nature and diverse perceptions of risk between and within professional groups. The practice development research reported here formed one part of a multisite study and contributed to…
A public inconvenience
This coproduced study drew on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to inform a Human Rights-based design. Using photographic images and reflective diaries, twelve participant co-researchers investigated the quality of public toilets when travelling in Scotland for people with dementia and other physical and cognitive impairments. Data were analysed using constant comparison and critically reflexive, group enqui…
The concept of the learning society for adults with learning difficulties
In this paper, it is argued that adults with learning difficulties represent a significant marginalized group within society whose experiences may shed light on a range of political and social values affecting those in the mainstream, as well as on the periphery. We begin by considering some possible meanings of the learning society and some features of the social and economic context which have promoted interest in the concept. An economistic re…
Integration and Its Future
This article describes a case study of the integration into mainstream schooling in two LEAs of children of primary school age with physical disabilities. Levels of disability are compared with the location of the children in the school system and any special provision made for them. Quality of provision is also explored. Factors affecting the overall levels of integration in the LEAs and differences between them are examined and the wider implic…
Organisational space for partnership and sustainability
National policy initiatives are faced with challenges in their partnership development and sustainability. The National Dementia Strategy for England recommended Dementia Adviser (DA) and Peer Support Network (PSN) services and 40 demonstration sites were established. In this paper, we report on the national evaluation of these demonstration sites, with specific reference to aspects of organisational development. The research used a mixed-methods…
Models of disability
Drawing on a study exploring the meaning of the ‘learning society’ for adults with learning difficulties, this article examines the relationship between theory and practice in a number of voluntary and user organizations active in the learning disability field. It begins by outlining the ethos of normalization and the social model of disability. Nine out of 10 organizations taking part in the study explicitly or implicitly identified the social m…
Training from cradle to grave? Social justice and training for people with learning difficulties
In this paper we question whether the radical change in the life situation of people with learning difficulties triggered by the closure of long‐stay hospitals does in fact represent an adequate inclusion into civil society or whether people with learning difficulties continue to experience strong exclusionary tendencies. We will explore the implications of a range of contemporary social justice theories for people with learning difficulties and …
Can Risk Aversion Survive the Long Run
Can it be rational to be risk-averse? It seems plausible that the answer is yes-that normative decision theory should accommodate risk aversion. But there is a seemingly compelling class of arguments against our most promising methods of doing so. These long-run arguments point out that, in practice, each decision an agent makes is just one in a very long sequence of such decisions. Given this form of dynamic choice situation and the (Strong) Law…
Market Harms and Market Benefits
Until the early 2000s, grain collected from the quinoa plant was eaten almost exclusively in its native Peru and Bolivia. But that changed rapidly as western shoppers learned of its nutritional properties—between 2005 and 2015, the amount of quinoa shipped out of Peru and Bolivia grew more than tenfold.11 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Crops,” accessed July 5, 2021, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC. With residents…
I just want to get on with my life’
The active management of the experience of living with dementia appears to improve quality of life despite the lack of disease modification. However, research to date has been largely of modest scale and explanatory factors for improvements have been under-conceptualised. Thus, although promulgated through national strategies, the evidence base is relatively weak. This paper reports on a nation-wide study of the influence of the National Dementia…
How practitioner-led research could have greater impact
Literature about practitioner research focuses on the production of research or building of research capacity, with limited exploration of the wider contribution that practitioner research can make to knowledge mobilisation (KM). This paper draws on findings from a practitioner research project to explore how practitioner research can facilitate KM. We suggest that more would be achieved if KM initiatives were informed by a holistic model which r…
The Novel Use of Life Grids in a Phenomenological Study of Family Carers of People With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and Dysphagia
Life grids have been used in qualitative studies for the last two decades. They provide an activity which researcher and participant can focus their attention on, help build rapport, and reduce the control the researcher may hold within a session. Here we describe the novel use of life grids at the end of a data collection phase. Used in this previously unreported way, life grids assisted the closure of the data collection phase by summarizing th…
Daring to tell
Learning to live with a diagnosis of dementia is a complex process. Being able to talk about the diagnosis to others represents a major challenge for some people with dementia. This study explores the experiences of people with dementia, and members of their families, around the task of informing others during the six months immediately following their diagnosis of dementia. Five people with dementia living in the community, and their immediate f…
It's what gets through people's radars isn't it’
This article draws on findings from a knowledge exchange (KE) project, which involved academics working with local authority social workers around a theme of engaging with involuntary clients. The user engagement agenda is actively promoted in social work but is not straightforward, reflecting a mish-mash of client rights and managerial and consumerist agendas. Engaging with involuntary clients, in particular, those whose involvement with social …
Mothers Marketing Work
Maps and Diagrams
Integration and Its Future
This article describes a case study of the integration into mainstream schooling in two LEAs of children of primary school age with physical disabilities. Levels of disability are compared with the location of the children in the school system and any special provision made for them. Quality of provision is also explored. Factors affecting the overall levels of integration in the LEAs and differences between them are examined and the wider implic…
Mothers Marketing Work
The concept of the learning society for adults with learning difficulties
In this paper, it is argued that adults with learning difficulties represent a significant marginalized group within society whose experiences may shed light on a range of political and social values affecting those in the mainstream, as well as on the periphery. We begin by considering some possible meanings of the learning society and some features of the social and economic context which have promoted interest in the concept. An economistic re…
Training from cradle to grave? Social justice and training for people with learning difficulties
In this paper we question whether the radical change in the life situation of people with learning difficulties triggered by the closure of long‐stay hospitals does in fact represent an adequate inclusion into civil society or whether people with learning difficulties continue to experience strong exclusionary tendencies. We will explore the implications of a range of contemporary social justice theories for people with learning difficulties and …
Models of disability
Drawing on a study exploring the meaning of the ‘learning society’ for adults with learning difficulties, this article examines the relationship between theory and practice in a number of voluntary and user organizations active in the learning disability field. It begins by outlining the ethos of normalization and the social model of disability. Nine out of 10 organizations taking part in the study explicitly or implicitly identified the social m…
We didn’t know it would get that bad’
The aim of the present paper was to examine some views and experiences of dementia among older South Asian people, as well as their families and carers, and to explore central issues of service support. Data were collected in Scotland through interviews with 11 professionals working with South Asian people with dementia, and four case studies of South Asian people with a diagnosis of dementia, as well as their families and carers. The case studie…
Alcohol-related brain damage
To date, the voice and experience of people with alcohol-related brain damage has been silent in the literature. Using narrative research methodology and a focus on risk and quality of life, this paper outlines the analysis of interviews with six people with alcohol-related brain damage who were resident on a specialist care unit for the condition. Of the six participants, four were interviewed twice in line with the study protocol and separate i…
Reframing risk management in dementia care through collaborative learning
Risk management is a complex aspect of practice which can lead to an emphasis on maintaining physical safety, which impacts on the well-being of people with dementia. Education for practitioners in risk management is particularly challenging because of its conceptual nature and diverse perceptions of risk between and within professional groups. The practice development research reported here formed one part of a multisite study and contributed to…
Risk Assessment and Management for Living Well with Dementia
This useful book highlights principles of good practice for managing risk in dementia care, and presents a rounded approach that will help practitioners negotiate some of the complex issues this entails
A collaborative approach to defining the usefulness of impact
This paper reports on a knowledge exchange project involving academics and practitioners in six local authority social work departments. It contributes to recent debates about the coproduction of knowledge, presenting findings in three key areas: the importance of relationships for knowledge exchange; ‘what works’ for practitioners engaging with academics; and the value of practitioner research for enabling knowledge exchange. It also considers t…
Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work
The participation of service users in the planning and delivery of social work services has become a familiar objective in the UK. Policy injunctions, however, mask a lack of clarity around what is meant by terms such as ‘participation’ and ‘engagement’. Moreover, since many service users do not engage with social workers voluntarily, the expectation that they become centrally involved in the planning and delivery of services highlights tensions …
Risky and resilient life with dementia
In this article, we report on our interpretation of past and current literature on negotiating risk and resilience in the everyday lives of people living with dementia. We undertook the literature review on which this article is based as part of an ongoing qualitative study designed to explore issues of risk and resilience from the point of view of people living with dementia in urban and rural communities. We carried out a search of internationa…
It's what gets through people's radars isn't it’
This article draws on findings from a knowledge exchange (KE) project, which involved academics working with local authority social workers around a theme of engaging with involuntary clients. The user engagement agenda is actively promoted in social work but is not straightforward, reflecting a mish-mash of client rights and managerial and consumerist agendas. Engaging with involuntary clients, in particular, those whose involvement with social …
Organisational space for partnership and sustainability
National policy initiatives are faced with challenges in their partnership development and sustainability. The National Dementia Strategy for England recommended Dementia Adviser (DA) and Peer Support Network (PSN) services and 40 demonstration sites were established. In this paper, we report on the national evaluation of these demonstration sites, with specific reference to aspects of organisational development. The research used a mixed-methods…
Daring to tell
Learning to live with a diagnosis of dementia is a complex process. Being able to talk about the diagnosis to others represents a major challenge for some people with dementia. This study explores the experiences of people with dementia, and members of their families, around the task of informing others during the six months immediately following their diagnosis of dementia. Five people with dementia living in the community, and their immediate f…
How practitioner-led research could have greater impact
Literature about practitioner research focuses on the production of research or building of research capacity, with limited exploration of the wider contribution that practitioner research can make to knowledge mobilisation (KM). This paper draws on findings from a practitioner research project to explore how practitioner research can facilitate KM. We suggest that more would be achieved if KM initiatives were informed by a holistic model which r…
I just want to get on with my life’
The active management of the experience of living with dementia appears to improve quality of life despite the lack of disease modification. However, research to date has been largely of modest scale and explanatory factors for improvements have been under-conceptualised. Thus, although promulgated through national strategies, the evidence base is relatively weak. This paper reports on a nation-wide study of the influence of the National Dementia…
A Seat Around the Table
The involvement of "people with experience" in research has developed considerably in the last decade. However, involvement as co-analysts at the point of data analysis and synthesis has received very little attention-in particular, there is very little work that involves people living with dementia as co-analysts. In this qualitative secondary data analysis project, we (a) analyzed data through two theoretical lenses: Douglas's cultural theory o…
Tackling dementia globally
ementia is a costly neurodegenerative disease that affects 47 million people worldwide. This figure is predicted to rise to 75 million by 2030 and 132 million by 2050 Currently, the majority of people (approximately 63%) living with dementia are in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and due to their large rapidly ageing populations, this number is going to continue to grow. For example, the Global Health Epidemiology Reference Group (GHERG) …
Developing evaluation of signage for people with dementia
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to to describe development of a framework for use in the evaluation of the effectiveness of signage to assist people with dementia. Design/methodology/approach The study consisted of two parts. Workshops held in both Sydney and Edinburgh using “world café” methodology with 28 knowledgeable participants produced a pool of statements. These were subsequently used in a three-round Delphi process administered to 3…
The Novel Use of Life Grids in a Phenomenological Study of Family Carers of People With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and Dysphagia
Life grids have been used in qualitative studies for the last two decades. They provide an activity which researcher and participant can focus their attention on, help build rapport, and reduce the control the researcher may hold within a session. Here we describe the novel use of life grids at the end of a data collection phase. Used in this previously unreported way, life grids assisted the closure of the data collection phase by summarizing th…
Infinite aggregation
A public inconvenience
This coproduced study drew on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to inform a Human Rights-based design. Using photographic images and reflective diaries, twelve participant co-researchers investigated the quality of public toilets when travelling in Scotland for people with dementia and other physical and cognitive impairments. Data were analysed using constant comparison and critically reflexive, group enqui…
In Defense of Fanaticism
Which is better: a guarantee of a modest amount of moral value, or a tiny probability of arbitrarily large value? To prefer the latter seems fanatical. But, as I argue, avoiding such fanaticism brings severe problems. To do so, we must (1) decline intuitively attractive trade-offs; (2) rank structurally identical pairs of lotteries inconsistently, or else admit absurd sensitivity to tiny probability differences; (3) have rankings depend on remote…
Psychology (24 works) · Political science (17 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Dementia (13 works) · Social science (10 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Business (8 works)