1. What is your impression of the way Glenn and Grace interact? What do they seem to gain from each other? Did any aspect of their interaction surprise you?
2. How would you evaluate Glenn as a caregiver? What seems to keep Glenn motivated in caring for Grace? What is the biggest obstacle to his continuing care?
3. How does Glenn Kirkland provide emotional support for Grace? Were you surprised in any way by his response to Grace's disease?
4. What does the director and/or Glenn Kirkland want viewers to remember most about Grace? To what extent does the video succeed in conveying their messages to viewers?
5. Several times during the video we see Glenn Kirkland trying to soothe or reassure Grace in moments when she is fearful. How do those scenes help you evaluate Glenn as a caregiver?
6. What information about Alzheimer's Disease did you learn from this video? What insights did you gain about the effects of the disease on family members?
7. How does the information you learned in the scene where the doctor interviewed Grace complement earlier scenes showing Grace interacting with Glenn and with one of the video's producers in her home?
8. What do you learn about Grace's mental condition (in the scene showing the doctor interviewing Grace) that you do not know from earlier scenes?
9. Do you feel there was anything misleading or incomplete in the video regarding the nature of Alzheimer's Disease and its effects on the family? What information could have been added or presented in a different way?
10. After watching this video, how would you summarize Grace's condition for someone who had not seen the video? What would you tell a family that seeks to care for an Alzheimer's patient at home?
11. How do you think members of an Alzheimer's support group would respond to this video?
12. When the choir began to sing "Amazing Grace," what was your initial response? Why was that song an appropriate one to feature at this point in the video? What did you notice about Grace's reaction to the choir's singing?
13. Why does the director include images of Grace from earlier scenes at this point in the video? What perspective on Grace's experience do you gain from the combination of those images with the singing of "Amazing Grace"?
14. Why is the title of the video, Living With Grace, an appropriate one?

The Great Circle of Life--Home Page

Text of The Great Circle of Life: A Resource Guide to Films and Videos on Aging, copyright © 1987, 1999, 2005, Robert E. Yahnke. All photographs copyrighted by Robert E. Yahnke.  All rights reserved.  Contact author for permission to copy photographs or reprint portions of text.

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