Depicting Dementia: Representations of Cognitive Health and Illness in Ten Picturebooks for Children
Depicting Dementia: Representations of Cognitive Health and Illness in Ten Picturebooks for Children
复制标题
DOI：
10.1007/s10583-020-09405-w
复制
发表时间：
2020-03-14
影响因子：
0.4
通讯作者：
Sako, Katsura
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Caldwell, Elizabeth F.;Falcus, Sarah;Sako, Katsura
据估计，三分之一的儿童认识患有痴呆症的人，现在有许多针对幼儿的图画书有助于解释痴呆症给家庭生活带来的变化。尽管数量众多，但很少有人对这些书籍所传达的有关健康和疾病的内容进行研究。为了解决这个问题，本研究对最近出版的 10 本旨在向儿童传授有关痴呆症的英文图画书进行了仔细的视觉和文字分析。我们的分析表明，在这些书中，痴呆症完全是从衰老的角度来描述的，并且是老年人的一种疾病。此外，这些书严重依赖机械隐喻来解释痴呆症的原因。然而，与此同时，“还是同一个人”的叙事占据主导地位。这种叙述强调了突出痴呆症患者独特的历史和个性的重要性，并提供了一种帮助儿童继续与亲戚建立有意义的关系的方法。这些书在描述痴呆症时经常采用年龄歧视的比喻，但同时又支持对持续人格的叙述，反映了围绕痴呆症和自我的更广泛的社会话语的复杂性。
It is estimated that a third of children know someone living with dementia, and there are now many picturebooks for young children that help to explain the changes dementia can bring to family life. Despite their number, there has been little examination of what these books communicate about health and illness. To address this, the current study presents a close visual and textual analysis of 10 recent picturebooks in English that aim to teach children about dementia. Our analysis reveals that in these books dementia is exclusively framed in terms of ageing, and as an illness of older adults. Furthermore, the books rely heavily on mechanistic metaphors to explain the causes of dementia. However, at the same time the "still the same person" narrative is dominant. This narrative emphasises the importance of foregrounding the unique history and personality of the person living with dementia, and offers a way to help children to continue meaningful relationships with their relatives. These books employ often ageist tropes of decline in the depiction of dementia and yet at the same time support a narrative of ongoing personhood, reflecting the complexity of broader social discourses around dementia and selfhood.