By large numbers, elderly African Americans are dealing with the silent epidemic known as Alzheimer’s. This isn't the first time we've heard this, with USA Today writing back in 2005 about how Blacks are more susceptible to the brain-wasting condition than any other group in America.
Despite this, the first in-depth study to interview African Americans caregivers on how they seek help in caring for people with dementia was just completed by Travonia Brown-Hughes at the University of Kentucky.
Despite this, the first in-depth study to interview African Americans caregivers on how they seek help in caring for people with dementia was just completed by Travonia Brown-Hughes at the University of Kentucky.
She interviewed 17 caregivers who had received confirmed diagnoses of Alzheimer’s for a family member. Although this seems like a small sample, in qualitative studies the researchers stop when they find people telling the similar stories over and over.
Over half of the caregivers thought the elder’s symptoms were the result of a stressful event, emerged as one theme. Typical was one man who told Brown-Hughes, his grandfather had died, and four years later they noticed their grandmother’s symptoms but thought: “Oh, it’s still the stress. Cause she was having to deal with probate court and all that. Had the cousins wanting their share. We thought the stress would go away…her memory would start to come back. And it got worse.” This response is usual for this group: the older person’s not recovered from the loss of a friend, or they moved house. Their symptoms are seen as part of a transient state, or as the product of natural aging. The man with the ill grandmother said he knew, “something’s not right but I really didn’t associate it with Alzheimer’s.”
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Over half of the caregivers thought the elder’s symptoms were the result of a stressful event, emerged as one theme. Typical was one man who told Brown-Hughes, his grandfather had died, and four years later they noticed their grandmother’s symptoms but thought: “Oh, it’s still the stress. Cause she was having to deal with probate court and all that. Had the cousins wanting their share. We thought the stress would go away…her memory would start to come back. And it got worse.” This response is usual for this group: the older person’s not recovered from the loss of a friend, or they moved house. Their symptoms are seen as part of a transient state, or as the product of natural aging. The man with the ill grandmother said he knew, “something’s not right but I really didn’t associate it with Alzheimer’s.”
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