Formal Care Providers Experiences with Indigenous Understandings of the Stages of Dementia in Diverse Indigenous Communities in Canada and the United States

Abstract Background This paper explores Indigenous understandings of the progression of dementia through the early/mild, middle/moderate, and late/severe stages of dementia through the experience of on‐reservation dementia care providers. There is scant but growing literature on Indigenous understandings of dementia but to our knowledge none have examined how Indigenous conceptualization of the illness stages relate to the biomedical staging categories which dominate dementia education and care models. Method We conducted sequential focus groups (SFGs) with the same local health care staff/formal caregivers that work with Indigenous older adults (n = 17) over 4‐5 sessions (n = 14) in four diverse Indigenous reservation communities in USA and Canada. The SFG design provided an opportunity for a progressive and deep discussion of perceptions of early, middle, and late stages of dementia among their Indigenous patients. SFGs were recorded, transcribed, thematically coded and grouped according to the Alzheimer’s Association (AA) definitions of early, middle, and late‐stage dementia. Result These data suggest that Indigenous experiences with the stages of dementia do not align with the AA framework. Specifically, early dementia is not widely recognized as an illness or part of the disease trajectory; rather, moderate symptoms in the AA framework are most frequently described as the beginning of dementia. Participant descriptions of symptoms in the middle and late stages were more closely aligned with Indigenous lived experience and beliefs. Significantly, a return to childhood or infancy was widely used to describe late‐stage dementia. Participant discussions revealed that they gave prominence to periods of transitions and the overall experience as opposed to a segmented/staged approach. Conclusion Indigenous dementia illness models may not align with biomedical approaches to disease staging, potentially leading to inappropriate and ineffective clinical conversations and dementia education efforts. For example, while infantilization of elderly individuals is usually advised against by professionals, describing a loved one as returning to an earlier stage of their life aligns with Indigenous teachings of the circle of life. Further ethnographic research is needed with Indigenous family caregivers and persons living with dementia to verify these findings and provide insight into culturally safe care.