Measuring mental capacity: a history
Award Number
209884/Z/17/AProgramme
Research Enrichment – Public EngagementStatus / Stage
CompletedDates
1 March 2018 -1 September 2021
Duration (calculated)
03 years 06 monthsFunder(s)
Wellcome TrustFunding Amount
£201,316.00Funder/Grant study page
Wellcome TrustContracted Centre
London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineContracted Centre Webpage
Principal Investigator
Dr Janet WestonPI Contact
Janet.Weston@lshtm.ac.ukWHO Catergories
Methodologies and approaches for risk reduction researchDisease Type
Dementia (Unspecified)CPEC Review Info
| Reference ID | 327 |
|---|---|
| Researcher | Reside Team |
| Published | 12/06/2023 |
Data
| Award Number | 209884/Z/17/A |
|---|---|
| Status / Stage | Completed |
| Start Date | 20180301 |
| End Date | 20210901 |
| Duration (calculated) | 03 years 06 months |
| Funder/Grant study page | Wellcome Trust |
| Contracted Centre | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Contracted Centre Webpage | |
| Funding Amount | £201,316.00 |
Abstract
This project will develop a history of the medico-legal concept of mental capacity in Britain and Ireland over the twentieth century. It will use under-explored sources from civil court proceedings alongside medical, legal, and advocacy material to explore how mental capacity was assessed, defined, and understood by doctors, the judiciary, and lay observers, including those whose capacity was called into question. By taking a comparative approach to the four jurisdictions under examination, I will draw out the origins and effects of different approaches to mental capacity. A focus on the twentieth century will examine the impact of changing medical knowledge and methods, shifts within social provision for people with disabilities, and broader social attitudes regarding age and dementia, mental illness, and developmental disability. My goals are to discover how medico-legal thought regarding mental capacity changed across the period in question and varied across the four jurisdictions; and to analyse how these changes and differences came about. This will pay particular attention to ideas that remain contested in current law and practice, such as consent, medical ethics, vulnerability, autonomy, and rights, as well as the changing medical knowledge, legal practice, and social contexts that affect assessments of mental capacity.
Aims
In this project, I will engage with adults in England & Wales with and without experience of incapacitating conditions, to explore how decisions about an individual’s capacity have been, are, and could be made. This project will involve three workshops involving people affected by dementia, using archival material from the Court of Protection to explore past decisions about mental incapacity and the issues they raise. This will generate an interactive play based on historical case studies, in which audiences are invited to say how they would respond to actual past events, and to discuss present policies and hypothetical futures. A version of the play will also be filmed, to expand and continue the discussion in new settings. This will connect my historical research with contemporary opinions and concerns, providing insight into current perceptions of mental incapacity and its associated legal mechanisms, past and present. It will also increase public understanding of the Court of Protection, helping me and my audiences to think about legal and social responses to infirmity and vulnerability.