Moral aspects of filial concern for a parent living with dementia: Social imaginaries in contemporary narratives

Abstract

Many adults face the difficulties of a parent living with dementia. Although not always caregiving for a parent living with dementia, they care about and are concerned for the vulnerability of their parent. This concern is invaluable but often an experience with a far-reaching impact. Qualitative research on filial concerns and experiences of caregiving has resulted in a vast body of knowledge about the experience of family carers. Far less research, however, has examined the moral concern of children. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the normative aspects of their concern. An international collection of 24 books written by adult children about their involvement with an ageing parent was analysed using the Dialogical Narrative Analysis method. Our study shows that the stories deal with children's moral questions about independence, identity, and suffering. These questions can be related to social imaginaries of individualism and progress. The two social imaginaries may have both positive and negative impacts on children's ability to cope with their concern for a parent living with dementia. The moral questions that arise from children's concern seem to originate from both the appeal of the vulnerable parent and from the social imaginaries. These moral sources may compete, resulting in moral friction. Children with a parent living with dementia deliberate upon the personal and societal held beliefs and need moral space to embody their concern.