Our Care finder team has been actively involved the Facing Dementia Together project, an important research project aimed at breaking down the stigma associated with talking about dementia in non-English speaking communities.
The project, which is led by Professor Lee-Fay Low from the University of Sydney, is aiming to develop and deliver a culturally-tailored health campaign to increase timely diagnosis of dementia in Chinese, Vietnamese and Arab communities in South Western Sydney. The University of Sydney is working with UNSW Sydney, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University on the project.
As the Care finder provider for the South Western Sydney Primary Health Network, our Care finder team has been uniquely placed to connect the researchers with older people in Vietnamese and Arabic communities.
How Multicultural Care contributed
Last year our Care finder team members, Kiran and Lannie, assisted the research team in identifying Arabic and Vietnamese community members who were able to complete more than 120 surveys.
The community members were supported to take part in interviews and focus groups conducted in their language or in English.
What the researchers learnt
Over the course of their project, the researchers gained insights into the level of knowledge and understanding about dementia and approaches to caring in different communities.
For instance, in the Vietnamese community, people believe if an older person is loved and well-cared for by their family, they will not show signs of dementia. However, even well-cared for people can develop dementia and seeking help can support the person and the family.
When connected with Arabic communities, the researchers discovered that Arab participants expressed shame associated with dementia for some people in their community. Some would seek support through prayer. If they do seek external support, care support rather than medical support would be more acceptable.
Through the project, the researchers learnt that any community public health campaign needs to be tailored to each community group. They also learnt that the health campaign should include education about dementia as well as activities to address the stigma and resources in different languages.
What’s next for Multicultural Care?
With the research team’s public health campaign launching soon, through our Care finder team Multicultural Care is looking forward to assisting the University team with promoting their content to CALD communities.
This is likely to include opportunities to talk about the Face Dementia Together project and health campaign at upcoming Care finder outreach activities.
Want to know more?
Visit https://facedementia.au/en/ to find a dementia symptoms checklist, brain health tip sheet and other resources.