Cultural barriers and assessment of dementia: a case report

ABSTRACT

Background: There are a number of reasons for the discrepancy that exists when people are assessed using standardcognitive assessment tools for cognitive impairment and their actual presentation.Case description The authors describe the case of Mrs P who is a 72 years old lady of Polish descent but has lived inthe United Kingdom (UK) for most part of her life. Mrs. P was removed from her job where she used to work as acashier as she would miscalculate the money. She scored 3/30 on Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), which wasremarkably low probably due to language and cultural issues. According to the family she did not face any challengesand problems due to her language, as she was able to speak good English though she would revert to Polish languagein between.Discussion: British Minority Ethnic groups respond poorly on MMSE due to language issues. There is a need forculturally appropriate assessment tools to assess people with dementia who belong to different ethnic background.There is a need for training professionals in understanding the language and cultural issues of BME groups.Conclusion: Cultural sensitivities of dementia patients need to be understood and respected.