The Immigrant Memory Collaborative (IMC) recently launched a booklet detailing the results of their study on Dementia within African Immigrant Communities. IMC is a partnership between ACER and researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

The community-responsive partnership enables an understanding of the lived experiences and extent of dementia care needs and resources among African immigrants in the Twin Cities. The African immigrant community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is growing rapidly, and yet the dementia care needs and resources of this community remain largely unknown.

Study Result Summary: The results reveal limited dementia knowledge within the African Immigrant Community. Many factors impact dementia knowledge such as preferences to avoid bad news, secretiveness, and spiritual beliefs. Many people are unaware that besides typical symptoms like memory loss and disorientation, dementia also presents as changes in mood and behavior, difficulty making decisions, and loss of interest in formerly loved activities.

Additional research examined caregivers of those with dementia. The study found that caregivers were often emotionally and physically exhausted. Signs of caregiver burnout included extreme exhaustion, being quick to anger, forgetfulness, anxiety, and depression.