RE-IMAGINING DEMENTIA USING THE VISUAL MATRIX.

This article discusses the impact of a 'life-story film' - co-created with a person with dementia - on NHS staff's perceptions of the person, and by implication, their wider perceptions of people living with dementia. The study used an innovative research method, the visual matrix, to encourage hidden images, feelings and ideas to emerge. A complex, multi-layered experience emerged through rich metaphorical language, encompassing both personal and broader sociocultural understanding of dementia. An unexpected outcome was the quasitherapeutic effect of the visual matrix on staff. The study suggests that the visual matrix may have potential to be adapted as a training tool in dementia care and that the fluid, associative and non-linear qualities of the visual matrix may prove an effective method for gathering the views of people with dementia, whose authentic voices are under-represented and difficult to gather using traditional research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]