Continuity, coping and finding meanings in everyday life: Storytelling by family members of people with young onset dementia

Abstract

Objective: This narrative study explores how family members readjust to young onset dementia (YOD) being a part of their everyday life during the first four years of their family member’s illness. Background: Young onset dementia affects family relationships and challenges their life situation from the onset of the illness. It is therefore important to recognise and understand the family members’ supportive and resisting issues as well as their coping styles. Method: The data was collected in Finland by conducting interviews with 16 family members of people with YOD and these were repeated once a year for four years (2019 to 2022). The actant model was used to carry out the analysis. Results: Narrating the situation helps family members reconstruct their own story of their changed situation. Family members adjust their life situation at the beginning of the YOD diagnosis by retaining their daily continuity, coping, and by finding meanings. These require a recognition and an acceptance of the changes that YOD creates in relationships and daily living and may lead to a storyline that is broken, adaptive or alternative. Conclusion: When family members engage in storytelling, this can result in an increased awareness of their situation and lead them to identify opportunities and problems and solve them. This also leads to their readjustment to dementia as a part of their own personal narrative.