Resilience, well-being and relationships in couples with dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring couples’ experiences of shared resilience and its’ relation to shared well-being and the relationships of couples living with dementia
IRAS ID
226568
Contact name
Lucy Conway
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Humber NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 21 days
Research summary
Research has more recently focused on what skills and assets can be preserved of even gained after a diagnosis of dementia and how this process can be best understood and measured. Resilience is one of the skills and assets that has been researched in order to better understand how people might sustain their well-being in the context of living with dementia. However, so far little is known about couples’ resilience whilst living with dementia, and how this is related to the couples’ well-being and relationship, as existing research has tended to be focused on its effects on either the caregiver or the care recipient in isolation. Therefore, there is little known about the experiences of shared resilience with couples living with dementia and its’ link to the couples’ relationship and their well-being. As a result, this research aims to develop a better understanding of the meaning of shared resilience, the experiences of living with and without resilience and how this relates to a couples’ well-being and their relationship.
This research aims to develop a theory from which shared resilience, well-being and a couples’ relationship can be understood using semi-structured interviews with couples in which one member of the couple has a diagnosis of dementia, and the other person considers themselves to be their primary informal caregiver. Participants will be recruited from Older People’s Mental Health and Memory Services provided by both the Humber and Tees, Esk, Wear & Valley NHS Foundation Trusts as well as via regional dementia support and advocacy organisations in the 3rd sector (e.g. Alzheimer’s Society). Couples will be asked to talk about the meaning of shared resilience, their experiences of shared resilience, facilitators of shared resilience, and their relationship and well-being.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1121
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion