Supporting LGBTQ+ people living with dementia: what can we learn from LGBTQ+ dementia peer supporters?

LGBTQ+ people living with dementia are a heterogeneous group who are more likely to be socially isolated and may have unique social support structures. After lifetimes of personal, structural and systemic isolation, LGBTQ+ people living with dementia are less likely to seek formal support, particularly from heteronormative and cisgenderist aged care providers. With most people living with dementia relying on informal care, it is important for us to understand the distinct ways in which peer support may operate for socially isolated LGBTQ+ people living with dementia. This paper focusses on the experiences of LGBTQ+ peer supporters who visited LGBTQ+ people living with dementia as part of a formal program in Australia. In focus groups with peer supporters the arts-based method, body mapping, was used to support participants to describe their embodied experiences and needs when caring for and about an LGBTQ+ person living with dementia. The study highlighted that the peer supporters used strengths based, gender affirming approaches to support LGBTQ+ people living with dementia. In line with concepts drawn from ethics of care, these relationships value diversity and emerge from a deep moral commitment to caring for LGBTQ+ elders as an expression of mutual authenticity. Despite this commitment, volunteer visitors experienced grief, not only because the people they visited died, but also at their inability to change systems that did not serve the people they cared for.