The complexities surrounding aging, dementia, and care are timely issues that transcend beyond institutional boundaries, evincing a critical debate on later life across disciplines. The aim of this study is to offer fresh insights into the intricate paradigms of living and growing older with dementia. The study focuses on the Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux\'s memoir I Remain in Darkness (1999), which provides a candid account of her mother\'s journey through dementia from its onset to the gradual decline.
This article employs the theoretical frameworks of literary gerontology, illness narratives and life writing to address the challenges of aging, dementia and care that are represented in Ernaux\'s memoir. It also addresses societal attitudes and stigma associated with aging and dementia by exploring the embarrassment that individuals and families experience when confronted with the deteriorating mental health of their loved ones.
Ernaux\'s memoir explores the nuances of dementia and caregiving within both the familial and institutional context, and sheds light on the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter. Through the act of witnessing, Ernaux embarks on a path of healing, which allows her to confront her past wounds and better navigate the challenges that lie ahead. However, Ernaux\'s confessional memoir also troubles the ethics of life writing and identity issues, and seems to perpetuate the pathologizing medical gaze through the exposure of her mother\'s vulnerability and intimacy in the face of dementia and care.
Ernaux\'s account of her mother\'s dementia and aging is both a confessional piece of writing and a narrative therapy, which reveals the challenges of aging, illness, and unresolved family tensions. Her work illuminates the interconnectedness between the past, present, and future, and shows that illness narratives can act as a catalyst for transformative change, identity formation, and self-reflection. The article addresses the intricacies of old age, showcasing how life writing and humanities-based inquiry can bring to the fore key aspects of the latest stages in life, which are often unvoiced because they represent the most unpleasant and feared aspects of aging in contemporary society.

The inclusion of protective factors (\"assets\") are increasingly supported in developing culturally grounded interventions for American Indian (AI) populations. This study sought to explore AI women\'s cultural assets, perspectives, and teachings to inform the development of a culturally grounded, intergenerational intervention to prevent substance abuse and teenage pregnancy among AI females.
Adult self-identified AI women (N = 201) who reside on the Navajo Nation completed a cross-sectional survey between May and October 2018. The 21-question survey explored health communication around the transition to womanhood, cultural assets, perceptions of mother-daughter reproductive health communication, and intervention health topics. Univariate descriptive analyses, chi squared, and fisher\'s exact tests were conducted.
Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 82 years, with a mean age of 44 ± 15.5 years. Women self-identified as mothers (95; 48%), aunts (59; 30%), older sisters (55; 28%), grandmothers (37; 19%), and/or all of the aforementioned (50; 25%). 66% (N = 95) of women admired their mother/grandmother most during puberty; 29% (N = 58) of women were 10-11 years old when someone first spoke to them about menarche; and 86% (N=172) felt their culture was a source of strength. 70% (N = 139) would have liked to learn more about reproductive health when they were a teenager; 67% (N = 134) felt Diné mothers are able to provide reproductive health education; 51% (N = 101) reported having a rite of passage event, with younger women desiring an event significantly more than older women. Responses also indicate a disruption of cultural practices due to government assimilation policies, as well as the support of male relatives during puberty.
Results informed intervention content and delivery, including target age group, expanded caregiver eligibility criteria, lesson delivery structure and format, and protective cultural teachings. Other implications include the development of a complementary fatherhood and/or family-based intervention to prevent Native girls\' substance use and teen pregnancy.

Latinas are at an increased risk for diabetes and reproductive health (RH) complications with sexuality and pregnancy. This study explored the understanding of diabetes related to RH, pregnancy, unplanned pregnancies, preconceptioncounseling, tight-control, and family planning among Latina adolescents with diabetes and their mothers and explored converging themes.
The qualitative descriptive study used written open-ended questions (English or Spanish) with Latina mothers (n = 13) and daughters (n = 21). Responses were transcribed. Content analysis was used by four researchers who coded and discussed themes and reached consensus. Converging themes were confirmed using Atlas.ti software.
Seven themes emerged from the mother-daughter dyad: communication (awkwardness, ambivalence, styles); control (being controlled vs. controlling); consequences (fertility, complications); planning (pregnancy, being healthy, life plan, RH); support; danger, risk, and safety; and stigma.
Many mother-daughter dyads were not ready to discuss RH among themselves. Cultural and familial perspectives should be considered when providing care and preconception counseling to this population.

BACKGROUND: For young women with breast cancer mothers might either be a source of support or of increased stress, depending on the premorbid relationship and on the psychological effect of the daughter\'s diagnosis on her mother.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of a breast cancer diagnosis on young women\'s relationships with their mothers and the possible support needs of these mothers from the daughters\' perspective.
METHODS: We developed and pre-tested a self-administered questionnaire on 10 survivors of breast cancer diagnosed ≤ age 40. Then, consecutive recurrence-free young women diagnosed with breast cancer were asked to complete the modified questionnaire.
RESULTS: Of 110 daughters approached from July/11 to May/12, 90 (82%) participated. In 11 cases (13%), the daughters had turned to their mothers before approaching anyone else. Of the 83 daughters who disclosed their diagnosis to their mothers, 76 (92%) stated their mothers had been emotionally and/or practically supportive, and 43 (54%) reported that the breast cancer diagnosis had a favorable impact on their relationship with their mothers. Of the 35 employed mothers, 26 had taken time off from work to support their daughters. Nineteen mothers, eight of whom had been living in a different country, had slept over or moved in with daughters during their treatment. Twenty-two daughters believed their mothers felt responsible to some extent for their developing breast cancer. Fifty-nine daughters indicated that health care professionals could help mothers by providing information pamphlets, education sessions, and linking to support groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Mothers are an important source of support for young daughters with breast cancer, with the mother-daughter relationship frequently becoming closer after the diagnosis. However, the practical and emotional burden on mothers appears to be high. Future studies should address the effects of a breast cancer diagnosis in young daughters from the mothers\' perspective, and the benefit of formal supports for these mothers.