He lauded her skills as a painter.Dementia (London). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 July 01.Ingersoll-Dayton et al.PageA Japanese couple–Mr Nakamura had been the director of a large auto company. With a Mini Mental Status score of 5, he was one of the most cognitively impaired participants in our study. Although he was unable to articulate his thoughts and spoke in short bursts, encouraged by his wife, he did respond to photos of the cars built by his company. His wife, who had also had a prominent career, complimented her husband on his support. As the wife of a chief executive, she was expected to devote herself to his career but Mr Nakamura supported his wife’s career and told the practitioner, “I didn’t think she needed to stand that.” She said affectionately of him, “He is quite a jewel.” He stroked her shoulder and said, “I am satisfied with her enough. I want to live with her.” His declaration was a strong affirmation of love, particularly for a Japanese man of his generation. Improved engagement American and Japanese couples found that their involvement in the Couples Life Story Approach provided them with the opportunity to relate to each other in more significant ways. This meaningful engagement extended to others in their social network as they shared the completed Life Story Book with them. An American couple–Mrs Brown, who had Alzheimer’s disease, lived with her husband in the home of their son. Mrs Brown was extremely talkative, in contrast to her husband who was a very quiet man. She frequently talked about her father and how important he had been to her while overlooking the daily contributions made by her husband to her care. Integrating pictures from their early years that highlighted their shared interest in music served to remind her of her life with her husband. At the final session, Mrs Brown told us how wonderful it was to be married to him and, warmly patting his knee, declared, “This is a good man.” Several weeks later, her young granddaughter accompanied her to the adult day program that she attended. They GW9662 cancer brought along the Life Story Book. While Mrs Brown beamed, her granddaughter showed the book to the day program Lasalocid (sodium) site members and read them the stories about the life of her grandparents. A Japanese couple–Mr Sato, a former newspaper reporter, had dementia. He hesitated to talk at first and could not remember events in his life until prompted by his wife. However, when he and his wife looked at photos from the years when he served as a reporter in the United States he became animated and spoke about how much he enjoyed that period of his life. Mrs Sato told us that her husband’s mood was good and his mind clear after each interview. She was surprised and very happy to hear him laughing and telling jokes as he used to do years before. When we brought the Life Story Book to show the couple, Mr Sato was moved to tears as he read it and remarked on how cute his little daughter was. Mrs Sato wrote to us that “we read the book together and felt nostalgia and healing as we read it.” Mr Sato also took the book to his day care center to share with the staff and his friends. Handling losses While most of the focus of our interviews with the participants centered on pleasant memories, there were also times during which the couple reminisced about difficult times, such as the death of family members and friends. When couples discussed these kinds ofAuthor Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manus.He lauded her skills as a painter.Dementia (London). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 July 01.Ingersoll-Dayton et al.PageA Japanese couple–Mr Nakamura had been the director of a large auto company. With a Mini Mental Status score of 5, he was one of the most cognitively impaired participants in our study. Although he was unable to articulate his thoughts and spoke in short bursts, encouraged by his wife, he did respond to photos of the cars built by his company. His wife, who had also had a prominent career, complimented her husband on his support. As the wife of a chief executive, she was expected to devote herself to his career but Mr Nakamura supported his wife’s career and told the practitioner, “I didn’t think she needed to stand that.” She said affectionately of him, “He is quite a jewel.” He stroked her shoulder and said, “I am satisfied with her enough. I want to live with her.” His declaration was a strong affirmation of love, particularly for a Japanese man of his generation. Improved engagement American and Japanese couples found that their involvement in the Couples Life Story Approach provided them with the opportunity to relate to each other in more significant ways. This meaningful engagement extended to others in their social network as they shared the completed Life Story Book with them. An American couple–Mrs Brown, who had Alzheimer’s disease, lived with her husband in the home of their son. Mrs Brown was extremely talkative, in contrast to her husband who was a very quiet man. She frequently talked about her father and how important he had been to her while overlooking the daily contributions made by her husband to her care. Integrating pictures from their early years that highlighted their shared interest in music served to remind her of her life with her husband. At the final session, Mrs Brown told us how wonderful it was to be married to him and, warmly patting his knee, declared, “This is a good man.” Several weeks later, her young granddaughter accompanied her to the adult day program that she attended. They brought along the Life Story Book. While Mrs Brown beamed, her granddaughter showed the book to the day program members and read them the stories about the life of her grandparents. A Japanese couple–Mr Sato, a former newspaper reporter, had dementia. He hesitated to talk at first and could not remember events in his life until prompted by his wife. However, when he and his wife looked at photos from the years when he served as a reporter in the United States he became animated and spoke about how much he enjoyed that period of his life. Mrs Sato told us that her husband’s mood was good and his mind clear after each interview. She was surprised and very happy to hear him laughing and telling jokes as he used to do years before. When we brought the Life Story Book to show the couple, Mr Sato was moved to tears as he read it and remarked on how cute his little daughter was. Mrs Sato wrote to us that “we read the book together and felt nostalgia and healing as we read it.” Mr Sato also took the book to his day care center to share with the staff and his friends. Handling losses While most of the focus of our interviews with the participants centered on pleasant memories, there were also times during which the couple reminisced about difficult times, such as the death of family members and friends. When couples discussed these kinds ofAuthor Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manus.
