Assessment of Dementia evaluation in ethnic minorities: Scotland vs. Europe

Ethnic minorities (EMs) in Europe are receiving suboptimal dementia evaluation, yet research that taps into the assessment of dementia in EMs in Scotland is lacking. Thisresearch aimed to replicate and extend previous study to examine the evaluation ofdementia in EMs in Scotland and compare the results between Scotland and other Europeancountries. A self-administered online survey was emailed to 14 Heads of the boards underScottish National Health Service and dementia-associated private settings and organisationsin Scotland. Fourteen respondents completed the survey in current study and the resultswere compared to previous study. Respondents from current study were specialistsinvolved in the diagnoses of dementia in Scotland. Descriptive statistics showed otherEuropean countries assess more frequently on EM patients with dementia than Scotland.Zero dementia specialists from Scotland and 3 from Europe had knowledge of specialiseddementia services for EMs. Only 50% of the specialists from Europe and 14% from Scotlandconsidered their skills to be good at assessing EMs. 46% of experts from Europe usedprofessional translators when translation was needed, while 92.9% of experts from Scotlandused professional translators. The lack of culturally appropriate instruments and specializeddementia services reveals that the services are not ready to meet the demand for evaluatingpatients from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. These may prevent patients fromcomplying and understanding the diagnostic procedures, which may be one of theunderlying causes for under-representation of EMs in dementia services. Inadequate clinicalevaluation may also lead to misdiagnoses and underdiagnoses. Therefore, there is an urgentneed to improve the current practices and develop suitable evaluation methods for EMs. Itis also necessary to raise awareness toward dementia and related services amongst EMs toincrease their understanding and access to the services.