Page 170 - 《社会》2023年第3期
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关怀的限度:养老机构认知症照护的民族志研究
dissociation of intersubjectivity. When entering a nursing home, patients are further
detached from their previous social relationships and world of meaning. Secondly,
the article explores how specific ensembles of knowledge and practice in nursing
homes shape the dementia experience. Under the current care management system
with ADL as its core classification framework, the operational significance of
dementia as a category is to a large extent dismantled. However, the stigmatizing
label “laonian chidai” (senile dementia) often appears in the daily symbolic
interaction process, causing all kinds of discrimination and conflicts. The dilemma
of cognitive impairment classification of nursing homes reveals the dialectic
relationship between“normal” and“abnormal” in definition and operation. This in
turn affects the personhood and living situation of people with dementia. Finally,
this article focuses on the daily ethics of dementia care, selecting two typical care
scenarios of demand response and physical restraint, to examine how caregivers
respond to daily crises and adopt expedient practices. The study suggests that the
special care relationship of dementia care provides us with a new perspective on
personhood and intersubjectivity.
Keywords:dementia care,nursing home,ordinary ethics,personhood,intersubjectivity
一、 引言
在现代生物医学的框架内,认知症(dementia)是一种以认知功能缺
损为核心,导致个体日常生活能力、社会交往能力明显减退的综合症,
在病程的某一阶段常伴有精神、行为和人格异常。 1 其中,阿兹海默症
( Alzheimer)是当今最常见的认知症类型,占所有认知症患者的五到七
成。 医学研究显示,认知症的发病率随年龄的增长呈指数增加。 随着我
国老龄化程度的加深,认知症患者的数量也正不断攀升。 根据 2021 年
《认知症长者照护服务现状与发展报告》,我国 60 岁及以上老年人中认
知症患者约有 1507 万,是全世界老年认知症患者数量最多、增速最快
1. 这一定义参见 《2018 中国痴呆与认知障碍诊治指南》(《中华医学杂志》2018 年第 13
期)。 在当前国内的语境中关于认知症的说法还有“认知功 能障碍”“老年痴呆”“失智
症”等,大众媒体则常以“阿兹海默症”指代类型广泛的老年认知症。 不同的命名背后有
着不同的疾病认知和社会想象。 本文主要采用“认知症”这一概念,后续的田野资料则将
进一步呈现在地社会界定和描述认知症的不同语言。
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