Cultural & Social Perspectives

This area explores Indigenous knowledge systems that view brain aging as a culturally and socially grounded experience.

It also examines the colonial factors contributing to brain health disparities and highlights the cultural protectors that promote resilience and well-being.

Terms to Know

  • Healthy brain aging refers to addressing and understanding risk factors for developing conditions like dementia. Activities that support healthy brain aging may exist in the physical, mental, and social domains.

    In contrast, Western perspectives on dementia focus on ‘cognitive decline’ characterized by issues with memory, reasoning, and problem-solving, categorized into types such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia based on causes like injury or disease.

  • Indigenous-centered dementia care are approaches to dementia care that prioritizes the needs, values, and cultural practices of indigenous populations, ensuring that care strategies are culturally relevant and respectful.

    This includes tools and methods used to assess cognitive decline that are tailored to the specific cultural context of the individuals being evaluated. These may include adaptations in language, visual elements, and metaphors to ensure relevance and accuracy for indigenous populations

  • Factors that contribute to the onset or progression of brain aging within Indigenous communities, such as social isolation, substance use, trauma, and stress, as well as urbanization.

  • Conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes. In Indigenous contexts, these may include factors like land rights, cultural practices, and community cohesion.

    Reference: Global Brain Health Institute. (2025). Dementia prevalence and dementia risk in Indigenous Peoples: recent findings, current developments, and future directions. Retrieved from https://www.gbhi.org/news-publications/dementia-prevalence-and-dementia-risk-indigenous-peoples-recent-findings-current

  • The body of knowledge, know-how, practices, and representations maintained and developed by Indigenous peoples over generations, often transmitted orally. This knowledge is crucial in understanding and addressing dementia within Indigenous communities.

    Reference: Indigenous Awareness Squared. (2023). Indigenous Perspectives on Dementia. https://iasquared.org/brain-health/

Neat Summaries & Reports!

This section highlights key reports and papers focused on culturally aligned dementia care. It explores community engagement, the development of culturally appropriate caregiving practices, and the unique social and physiological factors involved in supporting caregivers of Indigenous elders with dementia.

Cultural Perspectives - Review