Unit 5: Creative Ageing - Opportunities and Outlook
7.0 Bilingualism and Dementia in Social Care
The ageing population in the UK includes a significant increase of people in their older age from Black and Asian minority ethnic (BAME) communities. These are often first-generation migrants who came to the UK between the 1950s and 70s from Commonwealth countries, and are now reaching an age where developing a neurodegenerative disease like dementia is more likely.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia’s report Dementia does not discriminate points out that, in comparison to the whole UK population, there is a significantly higher proportion of members of BAME communities expected to develop dementia over the next 30 years. According to this report, this is because high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart disease, which are risk factors for dementia, are more common in these communities. But are care workers and care homes ready for this change in their resident population?
1. Read the article ‘Bilingualism and dementia: How some people lose their second language and rediscover their first’ in The Conversation. When reading takes some notes of information you can find in the article on the following aspects:
- What impact does this have on the quality of their lives and their sense of identity
- What role can bilingual care workers play to support bilingual people with dementia
2. Now compare your notes with our model answer.