Determiners of social inclusion and exclusion in the dementia context

Abstract

People living with a dementia and their family carers are at high risk of being excluded from the contact, activities, information and services that help them remain resilient. Using interview data from family dementia carers, this article explores the sources of enablement and inhibition in accessing these aspects of social inclusion. Carers and those living with a dementia are found to inhibit and enable social inclusion for themselves, each other, and other carers. However, carers attribute most agency to the external environment: what is provided and how easy it is to access, along with the attitudes and beliefs of others. Poor communication surfaces as an impediment to social inclusion, with carers often left trying to bridge communicative gaps despite limited knowledge and self-confidence.