Understanding the experience of dementia: Utilising the theoretical insights of ‘status passage’

This paper critically evaluates status passage as a social theory which might enhance the research and understanding of the experience of dementia. Status passage is introduced with consideration of the theory as presented by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1971). Their theory suggests that individuals move from different stages, or statuses, throughout the life course: a long-term health condition, such as dementia, is considered such a life status. The particular value of status passage is asserted via comparison with other conceptual models of long-term illness, in particular Michael Bury's ‘biographical disruption’. The paper proceeds to consider how the different key dimensions of Glaser and Strauss's theory, Reversibility, Temporality, Awareness Context, Shape, Desirability, Circumstantiality and Multiple Status Passages, might apply to the empirical study of dementia. This paper concludes that status passage provides valuable theoretical resources that can enhance research across the spectrum of social scientific epistemological orientations. By encouraging theoretically guided empirical study, the utilisation of status passage could thus enhance the research of dementia, as well as contribute to a more cogent sociology of dementia.