title: 'Seeing me through my memories': a grounded theory study on using reminiscence with people with dementia living in long-term care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand people with dementia, staff and relatives perspectives on reminiscence, its impact on their lives and experience of care and care giving.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The quality of life of people with dementia living in long-term care is an important question for providers and policymakers. Reminiscence is thought to have potential for increasing resident-staff interaction, thereby contributing to enhanced personhood for people with dementia. Relatively little is known about the effects of reminiscence on people with dementia or staff.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a grounded theory study. This design was chosen because of its focus on understanding people's behaviour, interaction and response to events.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-depth interviews were conducted with residents with dementia (n = 11), relatives (n = 5), healthcare assistants (n = 10), nurses (n = 9) and nurse managers (n = 3).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reminiscence enabled staff to see and know the person beneath the dementia. It acted as … a key revealing the person to staff, enabling them to engage with the person with dementia in a different way. Knowing the person enabled staff to understand (through the lens of the person's past) and sometimes to accommodate the person's current behaviour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The theory of 'seeing me (through my memories)' was generated from the data. This theory explains that through reminiscing and engaging with the person with dementia, staff begin to see the person (their personhood) through the mirror of their memories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found that reminiscence enhanced the experience of living in long-term care for residents with dementia and working in long-term care settings for staff.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooney
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Dympna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.forename: Declan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Devane
authors.forename: Siobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dempsey
authors.forename: Edel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Fionnuala
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Eamon
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Shea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D066296:Grounded Theory; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: dementia; grounded theory; long-term care; person-centred care; qualitative research; reminiscence