Barriers and facilitators of meaningful engagement among older migrants living with dementia in residential aged care facilities: A mixed studies systematic review

Background: Migrants with dementia living in residential care may be at risk of disengagement. Objective: To synthesize research relating to the meaningful engagement of migrants with dementia who are living in residential care. Method: Mixed studies systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. Nine electronic databases were searched for relevant studies. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they reported original research relating to meaningful engagement of migrants with dementia living in residential aged care and were published in English. Two independent reviewers screened the title and abstracts, full texts of eligible studies and conducted a quality appraisal of included texts. A convergent qualitative synthesis approach was used. Results: From 1460 articles, 14 papers representing 12 studies were included. Facilitators of meaningful engagement included: the presence of cultural artefacts in the care environment, the use of multimodal communication and a shared but flexible understanding of residents’ culture. Barriers were the absence of a common language and a task-orientated approach to care. Conclusions: Migrants with dementia who are living in residential care are at increased risk of disengagement. Our review highlights the need for culturally congruent residential care to go beyond issues of language and to consider how occupations can be tailored to support ongoing participation and engagement.