Focused Attention on Positive Aspects of Dementia Care in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities: Qualitative Insights from Australia

Objectives: Dementia care scholarship focuses on care challenges and less on positive aspects of care, especially among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) carers outside the United States. This article investigates positive aspects of dementia care across eight CALD groups in Australia.

Methods: We analyzed interviews of 112 family carers using a four-domain framework covering: a sense of personal growth, feelings of mutuality, increases in family cohesion, and a sense of personal accomplishment.

Results: Positive associations with care are derived from past relationships, feelings of mutual obligation, valuing changed relationships and enjoying spending time with the person with dementia. Positive aspects of care were not associated with increased family cohesion except in Vietnamese and Arab families; neither was use of ethno-specific residential aged care, except for Greek and Italian families. Religion and spirituality as a coping and comforting mechanism was inconsistently expressed.

Conclusions: The study reveals the multi-dimensional nature of care, what resonates, and diverges across CALD populations. Knowing which parts of the framework apply and which do not is useful for interventions seeking to enhance positive aspects of care.

Clinical implications: Migrant populations are varied and dynamic, and practitioners should be mindful of differences within and between ethnic minority groups.