Dementia Caregiving East and West: Issues of Communication

Discussions of communicative interactions involving caregivers, whether local or migrant, professional or family, are an important part of global aging and aging education. Different countries around the world have different systems and policies governing aging, healthcare, and caregiving as do the different cultures within them. What isn’t different, however, is that dementia occurs in each country and each culture, although it may be acknowledged differently and may or may not be stigmatized or hidden. Ways of looking at dementia caregiving and carework have expanded across multiple cultures and countries, but are not always collected and made conveniently available.

In dementia caregiving, communication with the caregiver is widely seen as the most helpful non-pharmacological means of assistance, especially in the family-care context. This collection will be attractive across multiple fields as it presents practical and adaptable discussions of communicative interactions in dementia caregiving contributed by senior and junior researchers in anthropology, art therapy, counseling, gerontology, linguistics and nursing.