Ethnoculturally-profiled care: Dementia caregiving targeted towards Middle Eastern immigrants living in Sweden.

Abstract

This study was set out to explore the understanding of dementia as a culturally and socially shaped illness in order to illuminate such perceptions and experience in relation to ethnoculturally profiled dementia care in Sweden. The results indicate, contrary to many other studies (c.f. Conell et al 2009; Flaskerud 2009; Gray et al 2009; Hinton, Franz & Friend 2004) that the perception of dementia and the described meaning of the disease have little (or nothing) to do with decisions regarding formal care. However, cultural norms and traditions in relation to issues of filial piety seem to do. Thus, to understand how different ethnocultural groups might respond to dementia care within a migratory context, the current study illuminate the fact that it is crucial to realize that neither the individual person with dementia, nor larger ethnocultural groups can be placed within a vacuum that seemingly does not change or correlate with surrounding society.