Dementia, Communication and Culture: Implications of linguistic and cultural diversity in intercultural dementia care

Abstract

Several dementia subtypes affect either some aspect of speech fluency and/or comprehension. Linguistic diversity affects healthcare delivery, not the least in the field of dementia care. In-depth interviewing were conducted with a total of 26 family members of patients with dementia and 35 nurses experienced in dementia care in six geriatric facilities (one in Oslo, Norway, one in a Sami town in northern Norway, and four in Tshwane, South Africa). In all these facilities many nurses had different cultural and linguistic backgrounds than their patients. Language difficulties constituted a central communicative challenge in intercultural dementia care as patients often lose their knowledge of the majority language and the nurses’ knowledge of the patient’s language and culture may be limited or non- existent.