Ethnic elderly with dementia: Overcoming the cultural barriers to their care

Kannayiram Alagiakrishnan

Dementia is common among the elderly, regardless of their ethnic background.1 Ethnic elderly, however, are less likely than non-ethnic elderly to have access to formal comprehensive diagnostic and treatment-and-management resources for dementia care, owing to a variety of social and cultural factors.

Practitioners and health care workers face several barriers when giving ethnic elderly cognitive assessments. Tables 1 and 2 explain these barriers and provide steps to overcome them.

View this table:

Table 1

Cultural issues related to diagnosis

View this table:

Table 2

Cultural issues related to management

Literature search

The MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases were searched from 1985 to 2006. The following key words were used: ethnic elderly, dementia, perceptions, service needs, and caregiving. Articles were limited to English-language literature.

Conclusion

Ethnic elderly with dementia have unique issues with regards to diagnosis and management. Health care professionals should be aware of these patients’ needs and use the mentioned suggestions for the care of their demented ethnic elderly patients.

Footnotes

Competing interests

None declared

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