Narratives of Self in Older Bilingual Adults Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease

Autor/in	López de Victoria Rodríguez, Patria C.
Titel	Narratives of Self in Older Bilingual Adults Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease
Quelle	(2016), (328 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
ISBN	978-1-3696-2580-6
Schlagwörter	Hochschulschrift; Dissertation; Older Adults; Bilingualism; Alzheimers Disease; Self Concept; Hispanic Americans; Comparative Analysis; Personal Narratives; Data Analysis; Discourse Analysis; Content Analysis; Role; Lexicology + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Thesis; Dissertations; Academic thesis; Älterer Erwachsener; Bilingualismus; Selbstkonzept; Hispanic; Hispanoamerikaner; Erlebniserzählung; Auswertung; Diskursanalyse; Inhaltsanalyse; Rollen; Lexikologie
Abstract	As the boom in the older adult population continues to grow, so too grows the number of persons suffering from cognitive diseases, such as dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). Older Latinos diagnosed with the disease make up 4 percent (200,000) of the current population; however, little research on bilinguals with DAT has been carried out (Gollan, et al. 2010, 2011; Bialystok, 2007), and even less on the presentation of self as mediated through narrative production. Current literature in the area has found that even though there is an internal (neuropathological and neuropsychological) decline that affects those diagnosed with DAT, individuals with DAT continue to display an external or social self. That is, individuals with DAT demonstrate a sense of personhood, or the "standing or status that is bestowed upon one human being by others, in the context of relationship and social being" (Kitwood, 1997, p. 7). As my work is situated in the discursive perspective of selfhood, the current study sought to answer questions regarding the presentation of self as mediated through narrative production in three cognitively healthy and three cognitively impaired older bilingual Latinos. While using a tri-partite framework from which to analyze bilingual data in studies of linguistic nature--including repeated tellings, reported speech, and speaker roles--I analyzed in both of the speakers' languages (1) the content of the participants' twice-told narratives, (2) the enactment of self and others, and (3) the shifts in speaker roles. The findings demonstrated that participants with DAT continued to display their sense of self in first and second tellings, making a variety of lexical choices to index the self and their subjectivity. Retellings, however, were more favorable for the participants with DAT as twice-told stories seemed to enhance these speakers' overall access to memory, language, and narrative ability. The findings present evidence that the notion of the sense of self is grounded in discursive and interactional contexts, can be publicly manifested via narratives of personal experience, and is enhanced through the act of narrative retellings. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] (As Provided).
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Update	2020/1/01