I have begun to fine tune the focus, goals and objectives for my final semester project. The project aim is to gain an insight into the impact that caring for a relative with dementia in their own home has on the social life and networks (or both) of the carer and what the implications of this are for carer support.
What is the life of a domiciliary carer?
It isn't considered a career (funny how close these two words are though) yet it's lots of different jobs/careers all rolled into one - manager, cook, guardian, guide, social worker, personal shopper, nightwatchman, to name a few. Above all, there is always the important and constant need to be a good companion and trusted friend.
In ethnothots I wrote about thinkpublic who were asked by the Design Council to work with regional branches of the Alzheimer's Society in order to investigate ways of improving the lives of people with dementia, their carers and service providers. The investigative and co-design process led to a number of recommendations, including a a mentoring programme for carers.
To get a steer on my subject I was advised to find out about areas such as communities of practice and household anthropology and social networks. Etienne Wenger, in his Communities of Practice speaks about the use of web in communities - "New technologies such as the Internet have extended the reach of our interactions beyond the geographical limitations of traditional communities, but the increase in flow of information does not obviate the need for community. In fact, it expands the possibilities for community and calls for new kinds of communities based on shared practice."
On social networks, I have to look up a number of terms such as 'network analysis' and today I came across orgnet.com and its blog, The Network Thinker which has some superb examples showing the patterns of connectivity in community, organisational and social networks.
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