DEMENTIA IN THE SOUTH ASIAN IMMIGRANTS: A SYSTEMIC LITERATURE REVIEW
Ambar Abrar and Karen Kobayashi
University of Victoria, Canada
: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: Dementia, now increasingly being recognized as an end-of-life disease, needs to be detected early and managed well to delay the transition to declining health and frailty for as long as possible. Factors like poor health status, poverty, and barriers to health care access, put ethnic minority groups such as the South Asians, at an even greater risk of severe and early onset dementia compared to the white population. Moreover, the cultural norms of these communities also influence their knowledge, beliefs and help-seeking behaviors. The disease goes underdiagnosed, and associated health care services remain highly underutilized among these ethno cultural minority communities. Dementia, from this perspective, has been highly under- studied. Aim: The purpose of this study is to provide a critical appraisal of the empirical research on dementia, i.e., knowledge of norms and beliefs, pathways to a diagnosis, the experience of caregiving and the provision of services within South Asian immigrant communities in the western countries. Methodology: The databases Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge, Psych-info, Pub Med and Ovid were searched for peer reviewed articles, published in the English language, using the inclusion criteria. Findings: The common themes of awareness, beliefs and perceptions, dementia diagnosis, health services utilization and caregiving among South Asians emerged from the 15 peer-reviewed articles. Conclusion & Significance: The majority of the studies reported a limited understanding of symptoms and causes; delayed diagnosis; lower Service utilization and, unwillingness to access formal caregiving for dementia among South Asians as compared to the general population. Interestingly, there is a huge gap in the literature from the USA despite the presence of a large South Asian diaspora whereas; the UK is found to promote and lead the research in this area. Recommendations are made for further research to understand the reasons for these differences, not just their occurrence.
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