Hinton L, Guo Z, Hillygus J, Levkoff S
Department of Psychiatry, University of California-Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2000;15(2):119-37. doi: 10.1023/a:1006798316654.
The National Institutes of Health is making efforts to increase the representation of minority elders in aging research. While it is often noted that cultural barriers may make the recruitment of minority elders into research more difficult, relatively little empirical exists to support this claim. The purpose of this study was to identify sociocultural barriers to recruitment that emerged during a four-year study of dementia caregiving among Chinese families in the Boston area. More specifically, this paper examines how culturally shaped conceptions of health, aging, and dementia impacted the recruitment process. This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of interviews with 23 Chinese families and extensive fieldnotes generated by project ethnographers and interviewers. The following themes emerged in this analysis: 1) dementia-related changes were construed as a normal part of the aging process rather than a disease, making it more difficult to identify dementia-affected elders and to recruit families, 2) research participation was viewed as potentially harmful because it can lead to excessive worry 3) Alzheimer's disease carries a social stigma among Chinese, leading families to shun formal diagnosis and research participation, and 4) practitioners viewed research as an intrusion offering no direct benefit to participants.
美国国立卫生研究院正在努力提高老年少数族裔在衰老研究中的代表性。虽然人们常指出文化障碍可能使招募老年少数族裔参与研究变得更加困难，但相对而言，几乎没有实证依据支持这一说法。本研究的目的是确定在对波士顿地区华裔家庭痴呆症护理进行的为期四年的研究中出现的招募社会文化障碍。更具体地说，本文探讨了文化塑造的健康、衰老和痴呆观念如何影响招募过程。本文基于对23个华裔家庭的访谈以及项目人种志学者和访谈者所做的大量实地记录的定性分析。该分析中出现了以下主题：1）与痴呆症相关的变化被视为衰老过程的正常组成部分而非疾病，这使得识别受痴呆症影响的老年人以及招募家庭变得更加困难；2）研究参与被视为可能有害，因为它会导致过度担忧；3）阿尔茨海默病在华人中带有社会污名，导致家庭回避正式诊断和研究参与；4）从业者将研究视为一种侵扰，认为对参与者没有直接益处。
