Abstract

Racial and ethnic minorities currently comprise 20% of the U.S. population; in 2050, this figure is expected to rise to 42%. As a result, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the 5th leading cause of death for people aged 65 and older, is likely to increase in these groups. Most dementia caregiving for these populations comes from family and friends, especially among families with lower socioeconomic status. A convenience sample of 30 African-American dementia caregivers was interviewed to determine unmet needs. Participants expressed a limited desire for formal services, such as support groups, legal advice, case management, and homemaker services. Instead, commonly expressed needs were daytime respite care and especially a desire for family and social support. Many caregivers expressed a need for other family members to share responsibility in the process; therefore, methods for caregiver support that address multiple family members in care provision may be beneficial for this group.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-22-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Research, v. 5, issue 1, 10000267, p. 1-4.

© 2016 Desin PJ, et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.4172/2167-7182.1000267

Funding Information

This study was partially supported by funding from P30 AG028383.

2167-7182-1000267_Table1.gif (5 kB)
Table 1: Caregiver Demographic Characteristics (N=30).

2167-7182-1000267_Table2.gif (5 kB)
Table 2: Care recipient patient characteristics (N=30).

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