Open Collections

Ito, Hiro

University of British Columbia

Background and objectives: Japanese Canadians have been largely marginalized in health research, especially regarding how they live well with dementia. To understand the sociocultural contexts that enable Japanese Canadians to live well with dementia, there is a need for more culturally nuanced research. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to explore how Japanese Canadians live well with dementia. Methods: This study deployed qualitative methods. I recruited dyads consisting of 4 persons living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment and 3 of their care partners from the Japanese Canadian community in the Metro Vancouver area of British Columbia. In the first phase of the project, I conducted in-depth, narrative interviews with the dyads to explore how they lived well with dementia. In the second phase, I invited participants to a group art-making workshop to explore creatively what they wanted others to know about how they lived well with dementia. Phronetic iterative analysis was used to analyze data collected from both phases of the study. Ikigai, a Japanese well-being construct, was applied as a conceptual lens throughout the study. Results: Based on data collected from the interviews and group art-making workshop, I constructed four themes important to how ikigai enables Japanese Canadians to live well with dementia: (1) tsunagari, or continuity and connection; (2) kansha, or gratitude; (3) security, safety, and stability; and (4) shikata ga nai and maemuki, or acceptance and looking forward. The themes are interweaved with stories and artworks shared by participants. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the ways understandings of living well with dementia are intertwined with culture through narratives, language, and histories.

Text

2024-09-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89262

Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/