Prof John Swinton of Aberdeen University is the President of the Guild of Health and St Raphael, and he is looking for some help with his dementia research:
Hello friends. I wonder if you could help me?
I am currently working on a project looking at dementia across cultures. One perspective we are examining is the experience of caregiving amongst people from the African Caribbean community in the United Kingdom.
Caring with people living with dementia is of great importance for families, communities and to society. Much of the research done assumes that standard European ways of thinking about dementia and dementia care are the only ones there are. However, people in different cultures and with different cultural backgrounds have their own ways of understanding and caring with people living with dementia. These ways of understanding are of great importance.
This study will look at the experience of caring within African Caribbean communities in the United Kingdom. The study has a particular interest in Christianity and spirituality and how religious faith and religious communities can help or hinder the tasks of caring.
The study is headed up by myself (Prof John Swinton) and based at the University of Aberdeen. I am a former nurse who now specialises in spirituality and dementia care. Based in Scotland, my cultural roots are in Trinidad, so it is a study that is of personal significance for me. My desire is to enable people to give voice to their experiences in way that will bring understanding and better practice. I would like to talk to people with dementia, families, community and church leaders and others who might be interested in dementia care.
Involvement will mean spending time with me (in person, or by phone, Zoom, etc.) discussing people’s experiences of caregiving. I am also very interested to get the opinions of people currently living with dementia.
If you think that you can help with this research, please fill out the contact form below and we will pass on your details to Prof Swinton. Your details will not be used in any other way.
With thanks
John