Data were gathered using innovative ethnographic and qualitative methods including qualitative interviews, 'wardrobe interviews', observations and visual and sensory approaches. The research was conducted across three Kent care homes, and fifteen domestic households. ‘Wardrobe interviews’ involved interviewing people with dementia alongside their wardrobes, and using their clothing as a prompt for discussion. Various visual and sensory prompts were used to elicit discussion in interviews and reminiscence groups, including vintage garments, photograph albums, images and samples of fabric. The study also involved observations and informal discussions, which facilitated the inclusion of people with more advanced dementia. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with family carers/relatives and care-workers. The sample included 32 case studies of people with dementia, 29 family carers and relatives, 28 care home workers, and representatives from two clothing companies. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis, assisted by NVivo qualitative software.Dementia and Dress explored the significance of clothing and dress in the lives and experiences of people with dementia and their carers, deploying innovative methods to explore questions of identity, personhood and embodiment. Clothes play a central part in identity as expressed at a day to day level, and the study aimed to extend that understanding to people with dementia whose lives have not traditionally been analysed in these terms. As such it is part of a wider movement to humanise the study of dementia, to rethink how we understand and support people with the condition. It aimed to understand whether – and in what ways – clothes were important to people with dementia and their carers, how clothes are managed in care-settings, and tensions around clothing in dementia care, for instance, between ‘comfort’ and continuity of self. The study is based on interviews, observation and ethnographic work with people with dementia and their carers living in care homes and domestic settings. It places the person with dementia at the heart of the enquiry, and also draws on the views of care staff and carers/relatives both to obtain a fuller picture of the life of the person with dementia, and to explore their own concerns.

Methods: Data collection methods included qualitative interviews, 'wardrobe interviews', observations and visual and sensory approaches. Visual and sensory techniques included using photograph albums, samples of fabric, clothing and accessories to facilitate interview discussions and reminiscence groups. ‘Wardrobe interviews’ were also conducted - interviewing with people with dementia alongside their wardrobes, and using the clothes as visual and sensory prompts. In domestic households, these generally took place as joint interviews with family carers. Twenty three participants took part in the wardrobe interviews – nine were unable to participate in these because of their more advanced level of dementia. Data was also gathered using observations and informal discussions (which were not audio-recorded and transcribed), which facilitated the inclusion of participants with more advanced dementia or verbal impairment. These observations were qualitative and unstructured, taking place in the public areas of the care homes, and incidentally during visits to domestic settings. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with family carers and care home staff. Sample: The research was conducted across three care homes in the Kent area, and fifteen domestic households. In total, thirty-two people with dementia took part in the study: fifteen in domestic settings, and seventeen in the care home sample. Participants were selected purposively to reflect different socio-economic backgrounds, and stages of dementia (from mild to severe), and include both men and women (nine men and twenty three women). They were recruited with support from care home managers and third sector organisations. The sample also included twenty nine family carers and relatives, and twenty-eight members of staff (care-workers, managers and laundry workers), who were related to/involved in the care of participants with dementia. It also included interviews and observations with two representatives from clothing companies that supply dementia care settings. Detailed field-notes were recorded after each session, and formal interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Ethics: Ethical approval was obtained from the Social Care Research Ethics Committee (SCREC). Where the person with dementia did not have capacity to give informed consent, family carers acted as personal consultees. Every effort was made to involve the person with dementia in the decision process, explaining the study verbally, and using simplified information sheets with visual aids. Consent was treated as ongoing, and the researcher continuously assessed the willingness of the person to be involved.