 Assessing mental capacity in Canadian Aboriginal seniorsXavier Cattarinich, Nancy Gibson and Andrew J. Cave Social Science & Medicine, 2001, vol. 53, issue 11, 1469-1479 Abstract: In recent years, researchers and practitioners have begun to modify existing cognitive assessment instruments and develop new tools in order to increase the accuracy of mental capacity evaluations among seniors in cross-cultural settings. Based on a review of the literature and consultations with members of the Aboriginal capacity assessment committee at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Canada, during the summer of 1998, the authors argue that both the process by which capacity assessments are conducted and the content of the assessment instruments are problematic. The article summarizes the difficulties that differing degrees of acculturation within and between Aboriginal groups create for cognitive evaluations. It recommends steps that mental health professionals can follow to develop meaningful assessment strategies for Aboriginal seniors that reflect both the content and the interactional processes that characterize their traditional cultural orientations. Keywords: Aboriginal; Seniors; Mental; capacity; assessments; Culture; Cross-cultural; psychiatry; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:53:y:2001:i:11:p:1469-1479 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
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