History could impact how Blacks care for relatives with dementia

By Burney Simpson
Contributing Writer

(Special from www.Black-mansStreet.Today) — The history of African Americans in the U.S. may influence Black caregivers of relatives with dementia to take a different treatment approach than that of similar white caregivers, according to “Hanging On to Those Who Are Still Here: The Meanings African-American Caregivers Ascribe to Dementia-Related Changes in Care Recipients,” a study from Allison Lindauer, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University.

Lindauer found African-American caregivers felt they needed to “hang on” to what was “still here” in the care-recipient despite the personality changes wrought by dementia. This approach is akin to the way Blacks joined together to face slavery and oppression “when all we had was each other,” as one caregiver told Lindauer. One issue however is that African-American caregivers tend to be more vulnerable to post-death prolonged grief, which can lead to depression.

Previous studies have shown that white caregivers of relatives with dementia generally consider the patient has lost their personhood and is just a shell of their former selves. Lindauer’s study, conducted with 11 Black caregivers in the Pacific Northwest, was limited and is not conclusive. It was shared in November at the 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting of The Gerontological Society of America in Washington, D.C.

This article originally published in the November 17, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.