Situation of migrants with dementia and their family carers in Germany

Abstract

The care given to dementia sufferers by family and professional carers will become a central topic of social policy given the drastic increase of the elderly population in the near future. Since the population of elderly migrants is growing even faster, the care situation of migrants with dementia will gain all the more in importance. Consequently, after giving some background information on elderly migrants and on the care of dementia sufferers in Germany, this article focuses on the interviews of family caregivers as well as selected experts regarding the present care situation of migrants with dementia. The interviews show for example that, on the side of the migrant patients and caregivers, the low level of education, poor skills in the host language as well as strong roots in a traditional and religious way of thinking seem to hinder a better care as much as, on the other side, the insufficient adaptation of the care given by the existing counselling and care structures to specifically meet the needs of elderly migrants.