Blogging with dementia: Writing about lived experience of dementia in the public domain

Public narratives around dementia have historically been negative, and have not been shaped by people with dementia themselves, but stories of living with dementia are becoming more common in the public domain. This qualitative study explored the motivations and experiences of bloggers by conducting interviews with six bloggers with dementia in the UK. Thematic analysis suggested that the asynchronous nature of blogging offered a valuable, personalised space for people with dementia to tell their own stories in their own way. Blogging as a format posed some practical challenges, but bloggers developed strategies to overcome these. Motivations for blogging were on three levels: the personal (as a journal, and as a ‘room of one’s own’); community (as solidarity for other people with dementia, and as comfort for families and friends) and society (as an educational and campaigning tool). Whilst the study is small, and there are many voices of people with dementia missing from the blogging community, this research demonstrates the potential for blogging by people with dementia to change public narratives and perceptions of dementia.