Assessments in assisted eating activities

This study deals with assessment as an interactional practice in assisted eating activities involving people with late-stage dementia (here Alzheimer’s disease) in an elderly care home. The dataset for the study consists of video recordings of 26 occasions of eating activities. We investigate the use of embodied, vocal and verbal assessments (e.g., headshakes, nods and gustatory ‘mmm’) together with evaluative terms (e.g., ‘good’ or ‘great’) in three consecutive phases in these activities: ‘introducing the mealtime activity’, ‘offering the food’ and ‘receiving the food’. Drawing on multimodal analysis of interaction, we analyze three mealtime events, in which we show how assessments are issued by caregivers more often in interaction with a person with dementia who appears less engaged in the activity compared to a more engaged resident. Moreover, the analysis explicates how assessments fit in with the overall organization of the activity and are issued in a timely fashion when the food is introduced and brought close to the lips of the person with dementia, and when it is accepted. The findings show that assessments are used not only to share an evaluation of e.g., food or the action of the person with dementia, but also to manage the assisted eating activity. Assessments seem to be used distinctively (1) to build joint attention in the eating activity and (2) to encourage the assisted person to submit to/continue the activity of eating.