Preserving the ‘‘us identity’’ through marriage commitment while living with early-stage dementia

Abstract

Recognizing the impact of marriage commitment to living with early-stage dementia has important implications for developing proactive care for individuals with dementia and their families. This mixed method study of six couples experiencing early-stage Alzheimer’s dementia explored how married couples experienced the meaning of commitment through memory loss represented by the transitional process of pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis. Narrative analysis was used to identify shared themes from couples’ accounts through semi-structured interviews and supported by questionnaires related to commitment and marriage satisfaction. Couples’ commitment was expressed by four major themes: ‘partnership for life’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘resilience’, and ‘forgiveness’. Couples’ experienced an undisturbed, enduring commitment to their relationship in spite of the diagnosis of dementia. The ‘us identity’ of the couple, living-in-relationship, remained intact. Couples considered the challenge of dementia to be a collaborative venture — a journey into the unknown.