The number of older Moroccan migrants reaching the age of high risk for dementia is increasing in Belgium. Yet no study has been performed to explore how Moroccan families facing dementia experience and manage the condition. The study employed a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with 12 informal and 13 formal caregivers to answer this research question. Findings indicate that the experience of dementia includes several invisible realities that challenge the informal and formal caregivers: (1) the invisibility of dementia as a condition; (2) the invisible subtleties of the informal care execution; (3) the invisibility and inaccessibility of care services as explanation for these family's non-use of available services; and (4) the overlooking of culture, migration and religion as invisible influencers of the overall dementia experience. A better understanding of these hidden realities of migrant older people with dementia and their caregivers could lead to interventions to provide effective and tailored person-centred care that is sensitive to the individual's life experiences, culture and religious background.

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Gerontological research has been proven not always to succeed in engaging older migrants and their families. Various attempts are made to give voice to this under-researched population. Qualitative methods like participative action research (PAR) have been put forward as a way to engage this population. However, this approach does not always succeed to achieve this goal. Drawing on insights from decolonial frameworks, we present a learning process in engaging older migrants with and without dementia and their family members in developing a migration-sensitive reminiscence approach as a psycho-social intervention for older migrants with dementia. The emphasis of decolonial perspectives on seeing this population as the “Knower”, deep reflection on own coloniality of mind as a researcher while critically looking at exclusive aspects of epistemology offers a supporting gaze to reshape PAR as an approach where this population is not only given voice but also heard.