title: Perceptions of cause and control in people with Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore cause and control illness representations in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Six older adults living in the North West of England completed semi-structured interviews that were subject to an interpretative phenomenological analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three main themes emerged indicating that participants were trying to make sense of their AD by comparing it with their previous experience of physical health illnesses. All participants acknowledged their diagnosis of AD but engaged with it in a graded way because of a lack of tangible diagnostic evidence. Participants developed pragmatic emotional responses to their situation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One of the main implications of the results is that caution needs to be exercised within clinical practice so that the pragmatic responses of individuals with AD are not pathologized.
authors.affiliation: Address correspondence to Claire Matchwick, Psychological Services Department, Burnley General Hospital, Casterton Avenue, Burnley, Lancashire, BB10 2PQ, UK. E-mail: claire.matchwick@lancashirecare.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matchwick
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Domone
authors.forename: Iracema
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Leroi
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Dementia; Illness representations; Qualitative