Understanding the mental health and wellbeing needs within primary care of family carers of people living with dementia from a South Asian background.

PI Title: Sarah McMullen

Lead member: University College London

The problem:
Family members often take on many of the caring responsibilities of people with dementia. Family carers are a vulnerable group and having a caring role can affect their mental health and wellbeing. Primary care plays an important role in supporting family carers from all ethnic backgrounds, for example in identifying carers and signposting them to relevant community-based support. Few researchers have studied wellbeing support in family carers of people with dementia, specifically from South Asian backgrounds. Dementia can be viewed as a ‘hidden problem’ among South Asian groups and because of family expectations, and cultural and/or religious values, carers may not know how to access support tailored to their needs, which can affect carer health and wellbeing. South-Asian ethnic groups primarily comprise of people from an Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani background, this project focuses on individuals from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic group.

We will explore:
• The mental health and wellbeing needs of family carers of people living with dementia from a South Asian background in relation to their religion and culture.
• What helps and what stops people accessing support within primary care.

How we will do this:
We will talk to family carers of people with dementia from South Asian backgrounds about their mental health and wellbeing, as well as the support they get in their communities. We will talk to around 25 family carers living in London and West Yorkshire (Bradford), concentrating on areas with a high percentage of South Asian residents. Family carers will be recruited through a variety of routes such as community/faith-based centres/groups, and religious places of worship. Interviews will take place in participants’ homes or remotely via phone or video call and will last up to 60 minutes. We will analyse the data to look for common themes and different ideas in what people have told us.

What will this lead to:
Results including infographics will be shared via different avenues for example blogs, presenting at community groups and through our end of project event. We will ensure summaries are produced in different languages, such as Punjabi, Urdu and Bangla, for people from different South Asian communities. An article will be written, published, and shared with the academic community and presented at conferences and local community events.

Amount awarded: £70,458