Deceptive Practices in Managing a Family Member with Alzheimer's Disease

Deception in the Alzheimer family shares characteristics with deception in a variety of other settings, in that it becomes routinized and contextualized. However, deception in the Alzheimer family is utilized toward the end of informal social control rather than primarily for information control. A key differentiating feature of the Alzheimer context is the gradually diminishing mental capacity and awareness of the person with the disease. This four-year longitudinal study, involving participant observation of a caregivers' support group and in-depth interviews of its members, examines how deceptive practices are learned; the various forms such practices take, including two-party deception and collusion with others; and conflict posed for the caregiver between treating the family member with dignity and coping with the daily ordeal of managing in the home.