Here’s some anonymised feedback from workshop participants and general readers on Parables of Care:
“[Parables of Care] is so great to have as a learning tool. We used it in nursing class today. The students really enjoy exploring the alternative strategies for working with people experiencing dementia. Generated lots of good discussion!”
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“I fell in love with this little booklet. Parables of Care grants a peek into a productive way of making life better for everyone involved. Dementia in a loved one leaves one feeling so helpless at times. These little stories have helped me… I am just thankful to get some tools that help me get ready and to cope with the changes.”
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“This is a lovely, accessible way of presenting research findings – creative responses to dementia care.”
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“Parables of Care is beautiful, moving and at the same time very strong, particularly for those of us who currently care for relatives with dementia. Thank you for making this book!”
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“I found Parables of Care very interesting. The first time I looked at it, I felt the comics were disjointed and confusing (I have no experience with patients with dementia). When I read it again and thought about it more carefully, the stories became more interesting and both the problems and ways they were handled became more clear. I feel like I actually LEARNED something about dementia from this. I don’t think any other medium could have conveyed what is conveyed here so succinctly. Fascinating.”
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“I liked Parables of Care very much. It depicts a reality of many older people, and their families, amongst them myself. This comic is a source of hope because it shows that with a little bit of sensitivity and imagination this reality can become less painful.”
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“Parables of Care features a number of brief anecdotes that expose its audience to the various situations that caregivers – both formal and informal – find themselves in when interacting with people living with dementia.Each story is illustrated in just four panels, but highlights the creativity required in providing quality care: it displays different examples that people who don’t deal with dementia care might not realise – caregivers must constantly be on their toes and think on their feet to keep patients safe but also happy.”
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“With great simplicity and powerful pedagogical strength, the little stories in Parables of Care are very efficient in communicating key messages to carers in everyday situations. In brief, the little stories show how to simplify, stimulate, communicate and make the most of each person’s skills, providing well-defined strategies.”
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“As a former carer of a relative I saw myself in many of the cases shown in Parables of Care, for example the story about clothing, the importance of being acquainted with a person’s life history, day visits linked to past activities, etc. The comics show how these situations can be managed when there is trust and creativity, helping to provide a better quality of life to both patients and carers.”
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It’s so valuable to be able to draw on the experience of caregivers who’ve found ways to relieve the distress of dementia sufferers and improve their quality of life. The examples shown are simple and rely on a very practical type of creativity, which makes for a very inspiring read. Parables of Care is a great reminder of the resilience and sensitivity of carers, and also of the importance to see beyond the condition and find the person masked by its symptoms.”
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“I liked Parables of Care because it makes you aware of the issues around dementia without being preachy.”
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“Parables of Care is very good. It can be quite strong if you have a relative that is starting to show symptoms of dementia, but the information helps you visualise a variety of behaviours, how dementia sufferers experience it and how carers can react to these situations with sensitivity.”
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“Parables of care demonstrates in a different way some of the issues facing families after diagnosis and also offers a simple and safe solution.”
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“I really liked Parables of Care a lot. It touched close to home as my mother died last year of dementia and Alzheimers.”
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“Thank you for sending us copies of Parables of Care so quickly. What an easy to read and fun resource we now have in our libraries!”
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“Congratulations for this important work… I will give a copy to my GP!”
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“This short booklet is amazing!!! I love it so much. This is when comics become a powerful medium to send messages to a completely different audience and different purpose. It captures so well the state and the emotions of the people involved and it shows so much empathy too! Really neat!”
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“I ordered a few copies of Parables of Care a while back, showed them at my library training sessions and also to carers, they really appreciated the poignancy and realism in this book.”
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Parables of Care can be downloaded as a PDF file, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, from
- City Research Online, City, University of London: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/18245/
- ChesterRep, University of Chester: http://chesterrep.openrepository.com/cdr/handle/10034/620684
- DOOR, Douglas College: http://dc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/dc:18369?lrstc=1LBWB
- CORE, Humanities Commons: http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6FN7C
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