Carers of CALD people with dementia

While carers for CALD people with dementia face similar issues to other population groups, factors such as differing expectations about care from family and community, and a lack of services that are culturally acceptable can mean that families face additional pressures.

Asian family members are the primary source of support for older people with dementia. Care giving in Asian communities may involve multiple caregivers who each serve a specific care giving role (Wong, 2013). During the assessment process it is important that professionals establish who in the family provides care giving roles. In traditional Asian cultures, the younger generation customarily cares for the older generation but caregivers frequently underestimate the physical and emotional tolls of care giving.

CALD family carers of older people with dementia may have strong expectations about the role of women and adult children in care giving. Carers may be reluctant to ask for help and this may be the result of one or more of the following:

• They may not be familiar with, or identify themselves with, terms such as ‘carer’, ‘caregiver’ or ‘respite’. This is not simply about terminology – CALD carers may find it difficult to distinguish between tasks deriving from an illness or disability and kinship obligations.
• They may feel that family care is preferable and that services will not meet the standards they want.
• They may fear that others in their community will criticise them for using services.

However, there is evidence of some convergence between the issues faced by CALD carers and other population groups as more CALD carers are now combining caring responsibilities with paid employment, particularly adult daughters or daughters-in-law (Wong, 2013). Traditional CALD carers have highlighted the need to have time off from caring. Additionally, some would value the opportunity to attend carer support groups if they were available in their own language.

Non-traditional carers want help in maintaining their paid employment. They also want support that takes account of their relationship with the person with dementia - for example, helping them to deal with feelings that are a “bad person” because they find caring difficult.

It is important to find ways of supporting CALD people with dementia and their carers that affirms and enhances their sense of self-identity and is not based on stereotypical assumptions.