TY - JOUR
T1 - Kitwood's thought and relational social work, European Journal of Social Work
AU - Raineri, Maria Luisa
AU - Cabiati, Elena
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Tom Kitwood is a key figure in the development of thought about dementia, but
generally no references are made to his work outside of elderly care. This article
argues that Kitwood’s thought has much to offer to all the professional
caregivers, regardless of the users’ category they are caring for, and to the
broader field of professional social work. Some key themes from the writings of
Kitwood are examined, namely the critique of the ‘standard paradigm’; the
conception of malignant social psychology; the respect for otherness in the
positive person work; the person with dementia as a resource for reciprocity
processes; the new culture of dementia. For each of these issues similarities
between Kitwood’s approach and relational social work are identified. Relational
social work considers the helping process and the well-being development as coconstructions,
in which the contributions not only by the helper (or the caregiver,
or the social worker), but also by the helpee (or by the care recipient, or by the
user) are essential: both at the same time are helped and helpers, and both are
empowered by this. This idea—of great value to all social work fields—is
remarkably close to the Kitwood’s thought about the dementia care.
AB - Tom Kitwood is a key figure in the development of thought about dementia, but
generally no references are made to his work outside of elderly care. This article
argues that Kitwood’s thought has much to offer to all the professional
caregivers, regardless of the users’ category they are caring for, and to the
broader field of professional social work. Some key themes from the writings of
Kitwood are examined, namely the critique of the ‘standard paradigm’; the
conception of malignant social psychology; the respect for otherness in the
positive person work; the person with dementia as a resource for reciprocity
processes; the new culture of dementia. For each of these issues similarities
between Kitwood’s approach and relational social work are identified. Relational
social work considers the helping process and the well-being development as coconstructions,
in which the contributions not only by the helper (or the caregiver,
or the social worker), but also by the helpee (or by the care recipient, or by the
user) are essential: both at the same time are helped and helpers, and both are
empowered by this. This idea—of great value to all social work fields—is
remarkably close to the Kitwood’s thought about the dementia care.
KW - Kitwood
KW - Relational social work
KW - Kitwood
KW - Relational social work
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/67901
U2 - 10.1080/13691457.2015.1074549
DO - 10.1080/13691457.2015.1074549
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-1457
SP - 1
EP - 17
JO - European Journal of Social Work
JF - European Journal of Social Work
ER -