認知症への教育学的アプローチの可能性に関する試論的考察 : 先行研究の資料分析調査をもとに

本稿は，主に教育との関連から認知症の問題を扱った国内外の文献を用いて資料分析調査を行い，その特徴を，教育における臨床上の実践例，認知症と教育上の諸概念（特に生涯学習，学歴等）との関係性，幅広い視野から認知症をとらえ直したものの３点に分類した上で，それらをもとに認知症への教育学的アプローチの可能性についての考察を試みたものである。調査の結果，教育学的アプローチの可能性として，①教育機関の中でもとりわけ生涯学習関連施設は，その特性を活かし，認知症の当事者に対して多岐にわたり働きかけられる可能性を有していること，②教育機関は，認知症の当事者だけでなく，介護者・家族・一般市民を多様な観点から学習支援の対象として巻き込めること，③認知症の非薬物療法に対して教育学の観点からの貢献が考えられること等が判明した。しかし，本アプローチでは当事者が重症化するにつれ対応に限界があり，今後は教育学独自の特性を活かしつつも，多様な分野の専門家と連携しながらその有効性に関する考察を深めていくべきことが期待される。

This paper intends to briefly illustrate the potentialities of approaching those with dementia, carers and civilians from an educational perspective through a literature review. The literature read by the author between 2014 and 2016 is divided into three main themes: good practices of approaching those with dementia by educational intervention; the relationships between dementia and some educational abstract concepts such as lifelong learning; and those trying to redefine the issue of dementia from wider viewpoints. Based upon this classification, the following can be addressed as future potentialities of approaching those concerned with dementia from an educational perspective. Firstly, educational institutions, especially those relating to lifelong learning, could be advantageous in improving the physical as well as mental conditions of those with dementia. In this sense, historical museums in particular have great potential in creating opportunities for those with dementia to retrieve their memories. Secondly, educational institutions could involve a variety of stakeholders as learners, not only those who have developed dementia, but also their families, carers, would-be volunteers, specialists and civilians, by offering awareness training and anxiety relief programmes as well as professional caring programmes, depending on the individual needs. Thirdly, as an academic discipline, educational science could contribute to developing existing non-pharmacological therapeutic measures further by making use of its own methodology, such as how to create a better educational programme, how to observe and support learners in the process of their learning and how to understand individual learners, etc. Yet, preliminary findings also indicate that it would be difficult to deal with the issue of dementia from an educational perspective alone, when symptoms of those with dementia worsen. Collaboration with specialists in other fields is therefore recommended, not only with those in medicine and health science, but also those in engineering, psychology, the arts and so forth, in order to foster discussions and find the best solutions from multidimensional perspectives with a view to creating a dementia-friendly educational environment.