July 05, 2022
Door knock to find mate wareware exent
University of Auckland researchers want to find out how prevalent mate wareware or dementia is among Māori.
Principal investigator Makarena Dudley says the three-year Health Research Council-funded project will include assessments of kaumatua, interviews with whanau about the caregiving burden, and even some door knocking in areas of high Maori population to try to determine the extent of the problem.
She says indications from earlier anecdotal studies indicate Maori may be presenting with the condition at a higher rate.
“A lot of the risk factors or the medical conditions that can lead to mate wareware, sadly Maori are over-represented in so we do think that Maori will be presenting at a higher rate than non-Maori for this disease, unfortunately,” Ms Dudley says.
The data collected should help mount arguments for more resources for people living with mate wareware