•  50
    Care biography: A concept analysis
    with Regina Allande-Cussó, Aileen Collier, Tom Cochrane, Maria A. Pinero de Plaza, Michael Lawless, Rebecca Feo, Lua Perimal-Lewis, Carla Thamm, Jeroen M. Hendriks, Jane Lee, Stacey George, Kate Laver, and Alison Kitson
    Nursing Philosophy 25 (3). 2024.
    In this article, we investigate how the concept of Care Biography and related concepts are understood and operationalised and describe how it can be applied to advancing our understanding and practice of holistic and person‐centred care. Walker and Avant's eight‐step concept analysis method was conducted involving multiple database searches, with potential or actual applications of Care Biography identified based on multiple discussions among all authors. Our findings demonstrate Care Biography …Read more
  •  47
    What is a self? What does it mean to have selfhood? What is the relationship between selfhood and identity? These are puzzling questions that philosophers, psychologists, social scientists, and many other researchers often grapple with. Self and Identity is a book that explores and brings together relevant ideas on selfhood and identity, while also helping to clarify some important and long standing scientific and philosophical debates. It will enable readers to understand the difference between…Read more
  •  455
    We argue that contemporary conceptualizations of “persons” have failed to achieve the moral goals of “person-centred care” (PCC, a model of dementia care developed by Tom Kitwood) and that they are detrimental to those receiving care, their families, and practitioners of care. We draw a distinction between personhood and selfhood, pointing out that continuity or maintenance of the latter is what is really at stake in dementia care. We then demonstrate how our conceptualization, which is one that…Read more
  •  295
    Care Depersonalized: The Risk of Infocratic “Personalised” Care and a Posthuman Dystopia
    with Alison L. Kitson
    American Journal of Bioethics 23 (9): 89-91. 2023.
    Much of the discussion of the role of emerging technologies associated with AI, machine learning, digital simulacra, and relevant ethical considerations such as those discussed in the target article, take a relatively narrow and episodic view of a person’s healthcare needs. There is much speculation about diagnostic, treatment, and predictive applications but relatively little consideration of how such technologies might be used to address a person’s lived experience of illness and ongoing care …Read more
  •  482
    Wicked Problems in a Post-truth Political Economy: A Dilemma for Knowledge Translation
    Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10 (280): 1-11. 2023.
    The discipline of knowledge translation (KT) emerged as a way of systematically understanding and addressing the challenges of applying health and medical research in practice. In light of ongoing and emerging critique of KT from the medical humanities and social sciences disciplines, KT researchers have become increasingly aware of the complexity of the translational process, particularly the significance of culture, tradition and values in how scientific evidence is understood and received, an…Read more
  •  750
    The trouble with personhood and person‐centred care
    with Alexandra Mudd, Tiffany Conroy, Alejandra Pinero de Plaza, and Alison Kitson
    Nursing Philosophy 23 (3). 2022.
    The phrase ‘person‐centred care’ (PCC) reminds us that the fundamental philosophical goal of caring for people is to uphold or promote their personhood. However, such an idea has translated into promoting individualist notions of autonomy, empowerment and personal responsibility in the context of consumerism and neoliberalism, which is problematic both conceptually and practically. From a conceptual standpoint, it ignores the fact that humans are social, historical and biographical beings, and i…Read more
  •  44
    When a person with dementia (PwD) makes a specific request or behaves in a particular way that is inappropriate or dangerous and based on a false understanding of reality, there is a particular technique that caregivers may use to try and manage the situation. The technique is known as ‘diversion’ and it works by affirming the false beliefs and behaviour of a PwD and creating the false impression that their specific request will be fulfilled. It may take the form of an explicit lie or any other …Read more
  •  235
    Altruistic surrogacy: the necessary objectification of surrogate mothers
    Journal of Medical Ethics 35 (3): 171-175. 2009.
    Next SectionOne of the major concerns about surrogacy is the potential harm that may be inflicted upon the surrogate mother and the child after relinquishment. Even if one were to take the liberal view that surrogacy should be presumptively allowed on the basis of autonomy and/or compassion, evidence of harm must be taken seriously. In this paper I review the evidence from psychological studies on the effect that relinquishing a child has on the surrogate mother and while it appears that many su…Read more