Elderly dementia patients from non-English speaking backgrounds communicate more with others and take fewer psychiatric medications when living in ethno-specific nursing homes, an Australian study at Monash University has revealed.
The study found that Italian-speaking residents in mainstream facilities had a significantly higher rate of prescription of daytime tranquillisers than those in Italian-specific facilities.
Dr Susannah Runci, from the university's Aged Mental Health Research Unit, said her study found that 30 per cent of participants in mainstream facilities were prescribed daytime benzodiazepines -- but none of the participants residing in Italian-specific facilities were prescribed them.
Dr Runci said the study also revealed a shortage of ethno-specific aged-care facilities in Melbourne.
"This means the quality of care provided for non-English speaking residents might be compromised due to cultural and communication difficulties, particularly for those with dementia," she said. "It also appears that family members are often used as interpreters, which can be a cause for concern."
As part of a three-stage study, Dr Runci compiled a profile of nursing home residents in south-eastern Melbourne who either preferred or needed to speak a language other than English -- mainly European languages, with lower numbers nominating Asian or African languages.
"We discovered more than 1100 people -- about 19 per cent of the aged care facility population in the survey -- either preferred or needed to speak one of 40 different languages," Dr Runci said. "We also found that people from such backgrounds were most commonly the sole resident 'preferring' or 'needing' to speak their non-English language or had only one other resident speaking their language at their residential care facility, which is very isolating."
Dr Runci then observed and compared the language use of Italian-background residents living in either Italian-specific or mainstream aged care facilities.