The Bradley Measure of Self for People with Dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Measure of Self: Developing an Objective Measure of Self in Dementia
IRAS ID
182889
Contact name
Rosemary Bradley
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, months, days
Research summary
The aim of this project is to develop an objective measure of self in people living with dementia. Its purpose is to help us understand the ways we think about ourselves and the ways we interact with other people. Memory problems lead to difficulties in remembering recent and past events and this can affect a person's sense of self or identity. However, research has shown that good quality care can stop this happening because it is designed to maintain and support a person’s sense of self and identity. Therefore it is beneficial to devise a measure of self that can capture the experience of self in dementia. The new measure will be developed in such a way that it can be used by researchers in the future when carrying out studies about the care of people with memory problems.
A literature review highlighted that there is currently no suitable measure of self for people with dementia because existing measures are typically designed to demonstrate impaired functions rather than identifying retained capacities, such as sense of self. The review also demonstrated that it will be possible to combine evidence from different disciplines (e.g. psychology and sociology) to produce a holistic 'framework' of self in dementia that will provide a solid base for the development of the new measure. Studies have demonstrated that self is multidimensional; some aspects may be impaired more than others in people with dementia, and the aspects that remain can be maintained with support from other people. Thus this project aims to develop a measurement tool that can capture people's remaining sense of self.
The development of the measure will progress through several stages which will include testing with participants who are living with dementia. This process will demonstrate that the tool can measure self in people with dementia.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0338
Date of REC Opinion
28 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion