Abusive Interactions: Research in Locked Wards for People with Dementia

This paper reports on a study in which unique access to three locked psycho-geriatric wards of a hospital allowed ethnographic exploration into everyday social worlds of fourteen people with dementia. Findings indicate abusive practice in the wards and show that participants in receipt of such practice responded with self-defence and resistance, but ultimately were defeated. In a development of Sabat’s (2001) Selfs 1–3 framework, I identify how abusive practice arose due to staffs’ inability to recognise different aspects of patients’ self. Recommendations for practice include integrating a developed Selfs 1–3 framework into staff training and evaluating its impact on practice.