Seeing oneself as a carer in the activity of caring: Attending to the lifeworld of a person with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

In this paper, I show that the notion of lifeworld is central to phenomenology, and that (in particular) it is only in our reflection on the lifeworld that we have a grasp of our selves. If this is so, it provides an approach to the task of caring. In hard instances, such as caring for the person with Alzheimer's disease, the main difficulty is one of sociality*to see the patient as a person. A suggested answer is that a carer who tries to grasp the lifeworld of the patient may be enabled to see the personhood of the patient, to have their own project of caring thereby enhanced, and (on reflection) to see themselves as a carer in the activity of caring. Key words: Alzheimer's disease, phenomenology, lifeworld, caring, respect, patient experience.