Dementia Care And Families: Care Decisions And Emotions In Popular Magazines

This chapter reflects on the role of contemporary magazines in the marginalisation of people with dementia and family carers. Dementia is one of the most pressing issues of public health, yet public understanding of dementia remains low, resulting in the social and economic marginalisation of people with dementia, their families and carers (World Health Organization, 2012). Media studies scholars have started to explore the contribution of the media to shaping public understanding of the condition and those who live with it. In this emerging field we find work on news media (e.g. Clarke, 2006; Kirkman, 2006; Kessler and Schwender, 2012), art-house cinema, and biopics (e.g. Cohen-Shalev and Marcus, 2012; Wearing, 2013). We contribute to this body of work with a qualitative analysis of popular magazines published in Britain and aimed at predominantly older readers. Our specific interest is in the representation of care relationships in the context of the family. The role of magazines in shaping public understandings of dementia has not been explored, despite there being a number of studies which highlight their contribution to public understandings of health, such as representations of the healthy body (e.g. Carlisle and Klos, 2014), medical symptoms, treatment options and recovery (e.g. Clarke, 1999; Bonner and McKay, 2000; McKay and Bonner, 2004; Cranshaw, 2007).