Abstract
This research addresses the problem of considering care as a burden and presents a new image of care centering on “co-education” among the person requiring care, the family caregiver and the supporters considering the practice example of the dementia care that conquers the problems. On the conventional dementia care, the person requiring care is regarded as the one whose cognitive function is missing and whose social/occupational functional level are remarkably degraded. And care at home is based on the assumption of "care power" that makes up for the degraded functions. This feature is quite similar to one of modern medicine.
Researchers discovered a new type of dementia care in Mr. T's approach as he has cared for his wife, Mrs. T at home for 24 years. Mr. T did not see her disease as problems but ⅰ) determined the direction of support that care must make her pleasant, and he asked home care workers for support. Supporters of Mr. T did not see the lack of family “care power” as problems but ⅱ) they thought that necessary care was the challenge and tried to resolve it. Before the dementia care at home became common in Japan, ⅲ) supporters faced the challenges in daily life together with Mr. and Mrs. T. They kept supporting each other for a long time with their relationship through “interchanging bodies”.
We try to explain the concrete practice above using the postmodern theory of Osawa. We argue 4 points in this article. First is that their support through interchanging bodies breaks the equation, "care = burden" and generates the new relationships, "the person who lives with dementia and can carry out action if some support is offered" and "the person who supports him/her". Second is that the person who lives with dementia is in the new way no one has experienced. So the field of home care becomes the place of making primitive norm. They develop the “co-educational” relationship that makes them grow into each other. Third is that the person who lives with dementia is <living as the body of the proletariat> and his/her wish is "living well." therefore, we show that the starting point of support is always on the side of the person requiring care and it is necessary for supporters to realize that. The fourth and final point is that, “professions” which caregivers are requested to have is an attitude that they come out of their own world, dive into the life world of others and they try to think support and care there. We conclude that supporter's attitude to get out the professional viewpoint and to enjoy the relationship of interchanging bodies with person requiring care will have the potential for changing the relationship among supporter, the person requiring care, and family caregiver, and then producing a new style of support.
