Samenvatting

'… En ieder zingt zijn eigen lied...': personhood, singing in a choir and dementia.

In the book 'Dementia Reconsidered' (1997) Tom Kitwood formulates what the point of departure should be with regard to the care for people with dementia: the safeguarding of someone's personhood by fulfilling the five basic needs of people with dementia: attachment, comfort, identity, occupation and inclusion. To what extend can an 'Alzheimer choir' contribute to these needs; that was the focus of the research conducted. The theory of Kitwood was used to evaluate the practice within a particular choir for people with Alzheimer's and their voluntary caregivers and to formulate adaptations for better addressing these basic needs