Creativity in the “Now” of Advanced Dementia: Glimpses of the Lifeworld Through Storytelling and Painting

Abstract

Using a contemporary approach to phenomenological psychology found in the work of Peter Ashwort, this paper describes elements of the lifeworld of persons with advanced dementia as revealed in their participation in story-telling and painting groups. Following Ashworth, the paper asserts that it is not necessary to be a scholar of philosophical or methodological phenomenology to engage in informal phenomenology and gain insight into the personhood of those who live with dementia.