CAREful about Language

Dementia has been called “the greatest global challenge for health and social care in the 21st century” (Livingston et al., 2017), because it imposes significant public health challenges, including high healthcare costs, and profoundly impacts personal health by eroding memory, changing behavior, and affecting independence. In addition to challenges that affect all Persons Living with Dementia (PWD), Western countries like the Netherlands face an additional difficulty: dementia disproportionate hits elderly with a migration background, a challenge for which the current care system is not prepared (van den Broeke, Komen, The, & van Kampen, 2021). Effective communication is key in diagnosing and managing dementia. Although many studies mention a ‘language barrier’ in dementia care for migrants, how the language barrier exacerbates healthcare inequities has never been addressed. What is more, research on how home language input can be used as a remediation tool to boost the mental and cognitive health of migrant PWD is lacking altogether.

September 2025 saw the start of the CAREful about language project, embedded within the Bilingualism and Aging (www.balab.nl) research group led by Merel Keijzer. The project aims to effect a change in dementia care for migrant PWD and their caregivers through scientific insights into their language needs that are pivotal in delivering person-centered dementia care. By placing language at the core of person-centered care needs of migrant PWD, the CAREful project aims to build an urgently needed foundation of inclusive and equitable dementia care.