Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T17:25:08.466Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethical Issues in Ageing and Biography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

Gary M. Kenyon
Gary M. Kenyon*
Affiliation:
St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, E3B 5G3
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The increasing use of biographical materials in research and intervention in the field of ageing gives rise to significant ethical issues. In this inquiry, four of these issues are explicated. First, the notion of informed consent is explored in relation to selected contexts of research and intervention in ageing and biography. Second, the issues of autonomy and competence are considered from the point of view of identifying contexts where biography is a prerequisite for ethically responsive action. The third ethical issue concerns respecting the groundrules of various biographical approaches. Finally, the notions of authenticity and truth in lifestories are explored in an attempt to clarify the limitations and expectations of ageing and biography. The discussion of these ethical issues proceeds on the basis of an argument that indicates the fundamental importance of biographical ageing or the stories we are.

Keywords

Ethicscompetencebiographical encounterbiographical ageingnegotiated consentacceptancestory-listening

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 16 , Issue 6: Special Issue: Ageing, Biography and Practice , November 1996, pp. 659 - 675
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alheit, P. 1992. The biographical approach to adult education. In Mader, W. (ed.), Adult Education in the Federal Republic of Germany : Scholarly Approaches and Professional Practice. Centre for Continuing Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Birren, J. and Deutchman, D. 1991. Guiding Autobiography Groups for Older Adults. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birren, J. and Birren, B. 1996. Guided autobiography: exploring the self and encouraging development. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.). 1996. Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Boetzkes, E. 1993. Autonomy and advance directives. Canadian Journal on Aging, 12, 441–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bould, S., Sanborn, B. and Reif, L. 1989. Eighty-five Plus: The Oldest Old. Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont, California.Google Scholar
Boyajian, J. 1988. On reaching a new agenda: Self-determination and aging. In Thornton, J. and Winkler, E. (eds.), Ethics and Aging. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Burnside, I. 1996. Life review and reminiscence in nursing practice. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Carr, D. 1986. Time, Narrative and History. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Illinois.Google Scholar
Checkland, D. and Silberfeld, M. 1993. Competence and the three a’s: autonomy, authenticity, and aging. Canadian Journal on Aging, 12, 453–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, P. 1986. Ageing and Reminiscence Processes. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Davidson, W. 1991. Metaphors of health and aging: Geriatrics as metaphor. In Kenyon, G., Birren, J. and Schroots, J. J. F. (eds.), Metaphors of Aging in Science and the Humanities. Springer Publishing, New York, 173–184.Google Scholar
Davidson, W. 1993. Utility and implications of comprehensive personal biography in clinical geriatric medicine. Paper presented at the annual meeting, Gerontological Society of America, New Orleans, Louisiana.Google Scholar
Erikson, E. H. 1963. Childhood and Society. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Fischer, L. 1994. Qualitative research as art and science. In Gubrium, J. F. and Sankar, A. (eds.), Qualitative Methods in Aging Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Gearing, B. and Coleman, P. 1996. Biographical assessment in community care. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Gubrium, J. F. 1993. Speaking of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents. Walter de Gruyter, New York.Google Scholar
Hallberg, I. 1990. Vocally Disruptive Behaviour in Severely Demented Patients in Relation to Institutional Care Provided. Umea University medical dissertations, Umea, Sweden.Google Scholar
Harrison, C. 1993. Personhood, dementia and the integrity of a life, Canadian Journal on Aging, 12, 428–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kayser-Jones, J. and Koenig, B. 1994. Ethical issues. In Gubrium, J. F. and Sankar, A. (eds.), Qualitative Methods in Aging Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G. 1991. Homo viator: metaphors of aging, authenticity and meaning. In Kenyon, G., Birren, J. and Schroots, J. J. F. (eds.), Metaphors of Aging in Science and the Humanities. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G. 1996. The meaning value of personal storytelling. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G., Birren, J. and Schroots, J. J. F. 1991. (eds.). Metaphors of Aging in Science and the Humanities. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G. and Davidson, W. 1993. Ethics in an aging society. In Ethics and Aging, Writings in Gerontology, 13. Ottawa: National Advisory Council on Aging.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G. and Randall, W. (in press). Restorying Our Lives: Personal Growth through Autobiographical Reflection. Praeger Publishing, Westport, Conn. Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1984. After Virtue. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.Google Scholar
Maddi, S. 1988. On the problem of accepting facticity and pursuing possibility. In Messer, S., Sass, L. and Woolfolk, R. (eds.). Hermeneutics and Psychological Theory. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Moody, H. R. 1988. From informed consent to negotiated consent. (Special supplement on autonomy and long-term care). Gerontologist, 28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polkinghorne, D. 1988. Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. State University of New York Press, Albany.Google Scholar
Randall, W. 1995. The Stories We Are: An Essay on Self-Creation. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riegel, K. 1976. The dialectics of human development. American Psychologist, 31, 689–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roy, D. 1988. Ethics and aging: Trends and problems in the clinical setting. In Thornton, J. and Winkler, E. (eds.), Ethics and Aging. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Ruth, J. E. and Kenyon, G. 1996. Biography in adult development and aging. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Ruth, J. E. and Oberg, P. 1996. Ways of life: old age in a life history perspective. In Birren, J., Kenyon, G., Ruth, J. E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (eds.), Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Springer Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Sankar, A. and Gubrium, J. F. 1994. Introduction. In Gubrium, J. F. and Sankar, A. (eds.), Qualitative Methods in Aging Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Schafer, R. 1983. The Analytic Attitude. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Singer, P. 1979. Practical Ethics. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Wallace, B. 1992. Reconsidering the life review: the social construction of talk about the past. Gerontologist, 32, 120–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, J. D. 1994. Predictors of reminiscence: A lifespan perspective. Canadian Journal on Aging, 13, 66–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar