HEARING THE VOICE OF OLDER MIGRANTS WITH DEMENTIA: A DECOLONIAL APPROACH OF PARTICIPATIVE ACTION RESEARCH

Gerontological research has been proven not always to succeed in engaging older migrants and their families. Various attempts are made to give voice to this under-researched population. Qualitative methods like participative action research (PAR) have been put forward as a way to engage this population. However, this approach does not always succeed to achieve this goal. Drawing on insights from decolonial frameworks, we present a learning process in engaging older migrants with and without dementia and their family members in developing a migration-sensitive reminiscence approach as a psycho-social intervention for older migrants with dementia. The emphasis of decolonial perspectives on seeing this population as the “Knower”, deep reflection on own coloniality of mind as a researcher while critically looking at exclusive aspects of epistemology offers a supporting gaze to reshape PAR as an approach where this population is not only given voice but also heard.