Research was undertaken with support from UOW Global Challenges and the Multicultural Health Service of the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District, to create resources in English, Italian and Macedonian.

Worldwide, 46.8 million people have dementia and this number is expected to increase to 131.5 million by 2050. Dementia is a syndrome characterized by deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities. With this cognitive decline, people living with dementia often require support from formal and informal carers in managing their day-to-day activities. This may involve assistance with their healthcare, including support with their medication management needs.

Accurate medication management is important because mistakes can lead to health problems, hospitalisation and in extreme cases death. We know that there is generally little support for informal caregivers from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Research was undertaken with support from UOW global challenges and the Multicultural Health Service of the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District, to create resources.

The research published highlighted that this group of CALD Australian caregivers faced additional language and literacy barriers, requiring information to be available in their own language but also in a variety of formats to increase accessibility for those with low literacy rates. In targeting this group which may have lower literacy, we aimed to produce a resource that was useful and accessible to everyone.