Providing culturally appropriate residential dementia care for older adults with an Indian heritage: Perspectives from Sydney‐based stakeholders

Abstract

Background and objectives Global migration and an increased life expectancy led to a growing number of people with dementia from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds living in long‐term residential care settings. These minority groups' wellbeing may be negatively impacted due to poor culturally appropriate care that fails to honour valued cultural traditions. This study considered culturally appropriate dementia care for older adults with an Indian heritage living in Sydney‐based residential aged care facilities. Research design and methods The Nominal Group Technique was employed to collect data from three groups of stakeholders of Indian heritage over a period of 6 months: care staff (n = 8), family of residential care recipients (n = 8), and community‐dwelling older adults (n = 7). Results Perspectives highlighted six concepts for consideration: (1) embracing a person‐centred approach to promote culturally appropriate dementia care; (2) training staff in culturally appropriate forms of respect; (3) the impact of staff ratios on care; (4) the importance of familiarity to meaningful engagement; (5) the importance of food; and (6) the necessity of engaging family and the wider Indian community in residential care activities. Conclusions Culturally appropriate dementia care for older adults with an Indian heritage is an area in need of further development. To ensure that residents with an Indian heritage are respected as an ethnic minority, it remains crucial that research is generated to inform policy development on each CaLD group as a separate entity.

Good practice in the provision of care for people living with dementia in nursing homes: a systematic review

“…Of the 30 studies included in the review, 16 were qualitative descriptive studies,(13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28) 11 were cross-sectional studies,(28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38) 2 were mixed methods studies,(39, 40) and 1 was a cohort study. (41) Participants included people living with dementia, relatives, staff working in nursing homes, experts in dementia care, administrators and lawyers.…”

“…Settings were described as nursing homes (n=20), residential care facilities (n=3), dementia care unit (n=3), care homes (n=2), assisted living facility (n=1) and hospital or nursing homes specialised in palliative care (n=1). Studies were conducted in Australia (n = 8),(15, 16, 17, 26, 28, 30, 40, 42) USA (n = 6),(14, 20, 24, 33, 37, 43) UK (n = 5),(19, 20, 21, 39, 42) Norway (n = 4),(18, 23, 27, 29) the Netherlands (n = 2),(31, 35) Denmark (n = 2),(22, 25) New Zealand (n=1)(42) Sweden (n = 2),(34, 36) Canada (n = 1),(32) Northern Ireland (n = 1),(31) Indonesia (n=1)(13), South Africa (n=1),(42) and Malaysia (n = 1). (41) Two of these studies were conducted in multiple jurisdictions.…”

“…It addresses a number of themes identified in this systematic review (table 1) and illustrates how these can be implemented into practice. The themes addressed in this vignette include: person-centred care,(14, 28, 35, 40, 41, 44) cultural impact,(28, 42) meaningful engagement,(19, 20) eating and meals,(30, 32) the role of family members,(14, 17, 30, 31, 35, 42) restrictive practices,(25, 26) psychotropic medication,(25, 26) materials,(21) end of life care(31, 33, 36) and staffing. (16, 17, 31, 33, 45) Niamh is the registered provider of a 30-bed purpose-built nursing home facility.…”

“…It covers the following themes: determinant of care quality,(13, 16, 39) person-centred care,(13, 16, 39) cultural impact,(28, 42) meaningful engagement,(19, 20) eating and meals,(30, 32) the role of family members,(14, 15, 17, 30, 31, 35, 42) care planning,(28, 29) activities,(15, 18, 25, 28) end of life care,(31) and staffing. (16, 17, 28, 32, 33)…”

“…This vignette provides examples of quality dementia care from a resident’s point of view. It covers the following themes: determinants of quality care (13, 15, 16, 30, 37, 38, 39), outcomes (18, 30, 39), person-centred care (14, 17, 18, 28, 32, 35, 41, 44), cultural impact (28, 42) care planning (17, 29, 39), meaningful engagement (19, 20), eating and meals (30, 32, 46), the role of family members (15, 17, 31), restrictive practices (26, 30, 38), activities (15, 18, 25, 27, 28, 34), materials (21), health care (14, 23, 31, 40), end of life care (31, 33, 36), staffing (16, 17, 24, 31, 33, 42, 45) and staff training (14, 16, 17, 20, 24, 31, 41, 42).…”