Abstract
The experiences of people with dementia are not limited to neurological issues, but also significantly include aspects influenced by mundane social interactions contained in everyday life. Yet, dementia scholarship in Nigeria focuses predominantly on neurological and biomedical concerns. While research on social aspects of dementia, such as care, is on the increase in Nigeria, most draw on the views of carers without including the perspectives of people with dementia. This study uses the perspectives of people with dementia and family and community members to illustrate the community’s role in the inclusion of people with dementia. The study draws on data collected during fieldwork in a low-income community in Nigeria, including interviews conducted with seventeen persons with dementia and other community members, and fieldnote entries. Three main themes emerged from a thematic analysis of the manually coded data, illustrating 1) the dis/advantages of communal infrastructures, 2) how communal care arrangements influence inclusion, and 3) the role of communal beliefs in the inclusion/exclusion of people with dementia. The results revealed ways in which the rural, compound-based, and collectivised nature of the community facilitates access to relationships, care, and other resources for community members with dementia. In contrast, the precarity of primarily filial-based non-structural care, the inaccessible nature of houses and roads in the community, and karmic beliefs around dementia and care pose exclusionary challenges to community members, especially those physically disabled or with no connections to their children. Consequently, the study recommends structural yet contextualised and inclusive dementia care frameworks in Nigeria.
Presenters
Ellis Onyedikachi GeorgeDoctoral Researcher, Centre for Diaconia and Professional Studies, VID Specialized University, Norway
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Dementia, Experiences, Communal, Care, Practices, Beliefs, Africa
