Communication in Elderly Care

Preface Nikolas Coupland 1. Introduction, Peter Backhaus 2. Elderspeak in Institutional Care, Kristine N. Williams 3. Dementia Care Communication in Residential Facilities: Intersections of Training and Research, Boyd H. Davis and Mary K. Smith 4. Creating a Positive Communication Environment in Long Term Care Settings, Rosemary Lubinski 5. Care of People with Alzheimer's Disease in New Zealand, Margaret Maclagan and Annabel Grant 6. Roles, Relations and the Loss of Autonomy in Caretaking of the Elderly in Denmark, Trine Heinemann 7. A German Case Study on Communication in Migrant-in-the-Family Eldercare, Hilke Engfer 8. Institutional Role Play in a Japanese Eldercare Facility, Peter Backhaus 9. What Peer Conversations Suggest for Communication in Elderly Care, Yoshiko Matsumoto 10. Art, Alzheimer's Disease, and Discourse: Talk in Response to Museum Paintings, Heidi Hamilton 11. Using Narrative Arts to Foster Personhood in Dementia Ellen B. Ryan and Lori Schindel Martin

Peter Backhaus is a Lecturer at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.

'Age has been recognized in Sociolinguistic research as one of the crucial social variables early on; for as we grow old we change our speech behaviour. Therefore, communication across age cohorts is not always without hitches. This is of particular relevance in the context of elderly care. Yet, the particular challenges of communication between caregiver and usually much older care recipient have rarely been studied, let alone addressed in care courses. The present volume fills a real gap. Based on empirical research in seven countries, it offers insights about how language use in care giving settings is patterned and how it can be improved.' -- Professor Florian Coulmas, Director of German Institute for Japanese Studies, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany "Backhaus provides essential reading for those wishing to care responsibly for as well as study older people. Yet this absorbing collection also harbors potential insights and transformable practices for all of us who care for others who are enduring problems and issues, irrespective of their age. This volume is a rich testament to the under-appreciated, yet incontestable, fact that caring is a complex communicative process." -- Howard Giles, Professor of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Reviewed in German Journal - Japan Markt. The chapters are written by authors from around the world and so whilst offering a variety of methodological approaches they also bring with them perspectives from different social and cultural contexts. This is a real strength of the book. [...] This book will be useful for educators who are interested in the intricacies of communication with older people and the 'action' of communication strategies, to researchers who are interested in linguistics as well as to students of gerontology who have a particular interest in communication. -- Brendon McCormack, University of Ulster Journal of Ageing & Society