E-Technology for Chinese Dementia Caregivers

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application in response to NOT-OD-10-034 through the NIH Basic Behavior and Social Sciences (b-BSSR) Opportunity Network (OppNet). The parent grant (2 R44 AG026815), "E-Technology for Chinese Dementia Caregivers," supports a Phase II SBIR randomized trial that tests a web-based education and social support intervention for Chinese-speaking dementia caregivers. The proposed OppNet research fits within the first b-BSSR funding category, that of "research on behavioral and social processes," and more specifically, on the "influence of sociocultural processes on cognitive and emotional responses" of Chinese dementia caregivers. The proposed research will expand significantly the scope of the funded parent SBIR project by allowing an in-depth examination of basic sociocultural processes and mechanisms that influence caregiver outcomes. This supplement will enable us to incorporate additional cultural variables that will allow us to conduct sophisticated analyses using structural equation methods to model the direct and indirect pathways of the relationships between cultural values (e.g., familism, reciprocity, and tolerance) and other culturally situated variables (e.g., coping styles, social support, and self-efficacy/control) on caregiver outcomes. While there has been significant research documenting differences in the nature and effects of dementia caregiving for specific cultural groups, there is little understanding of the factors that influence these differences. The proposed application will allow us to analytically distinguish elements of caregiving from those mediated by the representations and experiences of specific cultural groups, from those cultural values that may moderate caregiver outcomes. Such an analysis is necessary to elucidate the complex and multidimensional influences of cultural values and culturally-situated variables in the socioculural stress and coping model. The proposed supplemental study will (a) verify cultural and content validity of measures used to assess outcome, mediator, and moderator variables in a qualitative study, and (b) incorporate findings from the qualitative study into the current Phase II outcome assessment, analyzing the influence of cultural variables on mechanisms and processes (mediator and moderator variables) that affect caregiver outcomes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed SBIR examines the influence of cultural variables on stress and coping mechanisms and processes for ethnic Chinese caregivers, relying on a sociocultural model of stress and coping