The art of working in a dementia care unit – drawing as a method for collegial reflection and learning about ethical dilemmas

To work in a dementia care unit involves ethical challenges. Staff members often assist residents with daily activities such as eating, dressing, and showering.

While such tasks appear simple, they often require significant negotiation and various values may clash with one another or with institutional policies. To successfully navigate such care work, is an art unto itself. Yet the skills necessary to do so tend to be overlooked.

The aim of the study is to explore in situ drawing as a method for collegial reflection and learning about ethical dilemmas in dementia care units.

Previous research suggest that visual methods can propel reflexivity, and in this study, drawings will be made in situ to study everyday work situations in dementia care units. Selections of drawings will be discussed in recurring meetings with staff members.

The study draws on the notion of “empirical ethics”, which suggests that “good care” is inevitably situated and needs to be understood from how care is done practice.

By ethnographically studying care practices, it becomes possible to discern diverging, or even conflicting, forms of good care so as to compare and reflect on the values they enact.

To draw in situ provides possibilities to note subtle and tacit interactions, which is critical as dementia diseases often affect language capabilities.

The methodological advancement that the project offers is important for furthering knowledge about good ways of working, and living, in these settings.