Centre for Research on Ageing, Department of Gerontology, School of Economic, Social, and Political Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK.
Department of Social Welfare, College of Social Sciences, Seoul National University, Korea.
Gerontologist. 2020 Jan 24;60(1):145-154. doi: 10.1093/geront/gny143.
The prevalence of dementia will increase in low- and middle-income countries like Pakistan. Specialist dementia services are rare in Pakistan. Public awareness of dementia is low, and norms about family care can lead to stigma. Religion plays a role in caregiving, but the interaction between dementia and Islam is less clear.
Qualitative interviews were carried out with 20 people with dementia in Karachi and Lahore. Interviews were conducted in Urdu, translated to English, and respondents' views on help-seeking experiences, understanding of diagnosis, stigma, and religion were analyzed thematically.
Although some people with dementia understood what dementia is, others did not. This finding shows a more positive perspective on diagnosis in Pakistan than previously thought. Help-seeking was facilitated by social and financial capital, and clinical practice. Stigma was more common within the family than in the community. Dementia symptoms had a serious impact on religious obligations such as daily prayers. Participants were unaware that dementia exempts them from certain religious obligations.
Understanding of dementia was incomplete despite all participants having a formal diagnosis. Pathways to help-seeking need to be more widely accessible. Clarification is needed about exemption from religious obligations due to cognitive impairment, and policy makers would benefit from engaging with community and religious leaders on this topic. The study is novel in identifying the interaction between dementia symptoms and Islamic obligatory daily prayers, and how this causes distress among people living with dementia and family caregivers.
在巴基斯坦等中低收入国家，痴呆症的患病率将会增加。巴基斯坦的专业痴呆症服务非常稀缺。公众对痴呆症的认识水平较低，关于家庭护理的规范可能导致污名化。宗教在护理中发挥作用，但痴呆症与伊斯兰教之间的相互作用还不太清楚。
在卡拉奇和拉合尔对 20 名痴呆症患者进行了定性访谈。访谈使用乌尔都语进行，翻译成英语，并对受访者关于寻求帮助的经历、对诊断的理解、污名和宗教的看法进行主题分析。
尽管一些痴呆症患者了解什么是痴呆症，但其他人并不了解。这一发现表明，在巴基斯坦，人们对诊断的看法比以前认为的更加积极。社会和经济资本以及临床实践促进了寻求帮助。污名化在家庭中比在社区中更为常见。痴呆症症状对日常祈祷等宗教义务产生了严重影响。参与者不知道痴呆症可以免除他们履行某些宗教义务。
尽管所有参与者都有正式诊断，但对痴呆症的理解并不完整。需要使寻求帮助的途径更容易获得。需要明确因认知障碍而免除宗教义务的问题，政策制定者可以就这一主题与社区和宗教领袖进行接触。这项研究的新颖之处在于确定了痴呆症症状与伊斯兰教强制性每日祈祷之间的相互作用，以及这如何给患有痴呆症的人和家庭照顾者带来困扰。
