Linking of Ethnic Minority Elderly with Dementia to Long Term Care (LTC) Services

摘要

The study explores the social network/caregiver configuration of dementia-affected ethnic minority elderly from four ethnic minority groups, American Indian/Native Americans; Asian Americans, specifically in the study, Japanese Americans; Blacks/African Americans; Hispanics/Latinos. A total of 88 caregivers were interviewed in a purposive sample obtained within the Los Angeles and San Diego study sites. The study objectives for the caregivers included: an examination of the primary caregiver's relationship to the dementia impacted elder; the extent of the assistance provided by the primary caregiver; the knowledge base and processes used in linking the elder to long term care (LTC) services; the perceived barriers to linking to LTC services, to include perceived cultural barriers. The objectives for the provider component included: examination of the configuration of services provided; barriers these populations experience in linking to long term care services; and the level of effort needed to link these groups to such services.