Health Disparities in Alzheimer's Disease: Intergenerational and Sociocultural Contributors to Dementia Literacy in Immigrant Latinx Families

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Project Summary Hispanic immigrant elders are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and carry a disproportionately heavier burden of related complications. The proposed study ultimately aims to reduce this burden by mapping the architecture of dementia literacy (i.e., knowledge about the causes, treatments and attitudes towards the disease) and identifying culturally-specific disease perceptions that can be utilized for future interventional studies. Currently, standard early ADRD disease detection lacks adequate validity for Latinx immigrant elders due to the absence of evidence-based science that take culture and social disparities into account. Through a cross-sectional design purposed to supply pilot data for future hypothesis- driven intervention studies in other immigrant groups, the proposed study will significantly expand the current dementia literacy knowledge base in immigrants. A novel, family-based recruitment method, centered on college students with immigrant grandparents, will be applied to enroll 200 Latinx adults for the collection of questionnaires and survey-based assessments of dementia literacy and a comprehensive panel of sociocultural factors such as acculturation, immigration experience and degree of English/Spanish language proficiencies. The proposed research environment is ideally suited for the success of this proposal. Queens College is a Hispanic Serving Institution and the surrounding community is home to the largest concentration of immigrants in New York State. The Principle Investigator has a history of cultural cognitive investigations in a number of diseased states, including dementia, and will utilize the proposed study to propel her independence at Queens College. Co-investigator, Dr. Monica Rivera-Mindt, is an expert in Latinx health disparities, funded to complete research on dementia risk in HIV+ Latinx elders and has a history of successful collaboration with the applicant. .