The securitisation of dementia

Socialities of securitisation on secure dementia care units

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11200765
AutoresMary E Graham (0000-0003-1612-8829, Carleton University, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume41
Fascículo2
Páginas439-455
Data de publicação2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAgeing and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0144686x19001247
OpenAlexW2977035239
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas54

Nearly 50 million people around the world live with dementia, with statistics predicting a steady increase in prevalence for the foreseeable future. There is a need for comprehensive and compassionate dementia care. Long-term care homes have built special care units for people living with middle- to late-stage dementia. Among other services, these care units often use innovative security technologies that monitor and curtail movement beyond unit exit doors. As care-givers and technology developers grapple with the ethical dilemma of autonomy and risk management, researchers are beginning to investigate the social impact of these security technologies. The present research contributes to this line of inquiry. Fieldwork was carried out on two secure long-term care units for people living with dementia. Ethnographic accounts will illustrate how security technology creates socialities of securitisation on a secure dementia unit. Using securitisation theory, I will argue that dementia has been redefined, shifting it from a health issue to a security issue. The discursive construction of dementia as a security issue will be considered in terms of the co-constructed notions of vulnerability, risk, security threat and security challenge with respect to people living with dementia. The paper investigates how securitisation influences the ethics of dementia care

Autonomy · Dementia · Dilemma · Disease · Epistemology · Political science · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Medicine · Psychology