Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

London, the UK capital is home to 58% of all those who identified themselves as African-Caribbean in the UK 2011 National Census. It is demographically the oldest of the Black populations in the Census categories and proportionally has a higher rate of dementia than the White UK majority. With research indicating that vascular dementia and early onset dementia is growing issues for Caribbean men under the age of 65 strong cultural beliefs lead many of those most at risk to dismiss any mainstream efforts at preventative health education. Denial of problems and refusal to seek help or diagnosis can often lead to a major crisis before there is any engagement with professional support services and frustrate efforts to develop ongoing links with services. Culture dementia UK a voluntary organization has been working on awareness raising and providing support in the African-Caribbean community in London. The presentation explores how the African-Caribbean cultural narrative of independence and resilience mitigates against help-seeking in dementia and some of the approaches adopted by Culture Dementia UK to raise awareness and encourage people to look for support.

Biography

David Truswell has worked in community based mental health services in the UK for over thirty years developing services for people with complex care needs and enduring mental health problems in a career spanning the voluntary sector, local authority services, and the NHS. From 2009-2011, he was the Dementia Implementation Lead for Commissioning Support for London, working with commissioners across London to improve dementia services. He is the Chair of the Dementia Alliance for Culture and Ethnicity and an independent writer and researcher on dementia support and services for black and minority ethnic communities, working with a number of projects and initiatives.
Email:davidtruswell@ivloud.com