Mind-loss in the African American community: Dementia as a normal part of aging

Dementia has been called a “silent epidemic” among African Americans. While there is a disproportionately high rate, little else is known. The purpose of this study was to begin to discover the cultural and linguistic variations in the definition, recognition, explanation of, and response to, dementia as it is experienced in the African American community. Participant observation was combined with guided conversations with 14 African American who knew persons who had, as they called it, lost their minds or whose minds had slipped. Analysis followed the structure of a grounded theory approach from looking at the phenomena of dementia through the consequences of its presence. Key findings included the lack of the recognition of formal language e.g. dementia, the attribution of normalcy of signs and symptoms and the importance of caregiving spontaneously provided to needy community members.