Essay on Dementia in African American, Latinos, and Chinese

Alzheimer disease is the deterioration of the memory of most middle or old age people and is the most common form of dementia. However, according to the research carried out through a meta-lysis in African American, Latinos and Chinese, most people have very limited knowledge on the disease. The data collected from the three societies was qualitative in that it involved interviewing individuals in focus groups (Mahoney, Cloutterbuck, Neary & Zhan, 2005).

The caregivers in the three groups were middle aged, and most of them were females who were highly educated and had resulted in taking care of their parents. However, in Latin the caregivers were not well educated and also had low income. Alzheimer is a disease that most of the people in the regions is highly ignored and mainly attributed to the healthy aging and no one wants to admit its a disease. Cultural beliefs among the communities also limit people to accept that loss of memory at an old age could be a disease due to the critics they will face among the other community members since some will attribute it to something bad they have done like in China. This is the case since most of the people think that when you come in contact with a person having Alzheimer, you will get it hence they isolate themselves from the families who have a person suffering from the disease. This makes it difficult for people to share out when one of their family members has the disease for fear of being left alone. Most of the caregivers are also afraid of admitting that their loved one has the disease. In African American people, they are afraid to seek medical attention for their loved ones due to the fear of racism since the disease will be attributed to their culture. For the Latinos with time, they have come to accept that memory loss due to age is a disease and they occasionally seek medical attention for their loved ones. Nevertheless, the problem is the local doctors still have limited knowledge about illness and may often dismiss the issue, or in the greater extent, they may even misdiagnose the condition (Mahoney, Cloutterbuck, Neary & Zhan, 2005).

This has resulted to most of the Latino learning more about Alzheimer since they have a lot of books both in English and Spanish to help them learn more about the disease and how to identify it. Unlike in Latino families, the Chinese healers only diagnosed the condition, but they didnt offer any solution to the families. Chinese caregivers wanted more information on the disease to avoid the isolation and increase support to their loved ones. This is because in most facilities they dismiss the symptoms as merely old age and others also tend to be more disrespectful if one persists to have their loved ones checked out. However, race and ethical beliefs of the caregivers contribute to the approach that is taken by either the doctors or the community members towards the disease. For the African Americans, they view the disease as a normal condition due to old age while the Chinese are stigmatized by the condition, and the Latinos are more concerned about the well-being of their loved ones(Mahoney, Cloutterbuck, Neary & Zhan,2005).

Through the clinical training that is being offered by most facilities has reduced the stigma of the disease and most people have resulted to seeking medical attention rather that hiding from the condition or simply attributing it to old age.

References

Mahoney, D. F., Cloutterbuck, J., Neary, S., & Zhan, L. (2005). African American, Chinese, and Latino family caregivers' impressions of the onset and diagnosis of dementia: cross-cultural similarities and differences. The Gerontologist, 45(6), 783-792.