MORAL REASONING AND ALZHEIMERS CARE - EXPLORING COMPLEX WEAVINGS THROUGH NARRATIVE

This article reports on selected results of an inquiry-guided study in which we used literature and autobiography to challenge current ratio nalist perspectives on the use of formal services by caregivers of Alz heimer's sufferers. Starting with Gilligan's concepts of two basic for ms of moral reasoning-justice versus care-based-we interpreted the mor al reasoning about caregiving expressed in four novels: Diary of a Goo d Neighbor, Memory Board, Memento Mori, and The Other Side. Although w e found Gilligan's dichotomous framework not directly applicable, we d id find ample evidence of the salience of moral reasoning to questions of who should care and on what basis. We also found that stories, as they are woven from threads of family history, social position and mor es, as well as ideas about intimate love, religion, and autonomy, reve al the interconnectedness of so-called private choices to the social i deologies thal constrain and shape these choices.