Old SCHOOL Hip Hop: A randomized controlled trial to improve dementia knowledge

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Objectives: The goals of this proposal are to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel culturally- tailored dementia education intervention to a) teach young children to recognize dementia symptoms and demonstrate an appropriate action plan (which we have termed dementia literacy) and b) have these dementia literate children teach and improve dementia literacy their parents and grandparents. Background: Dementia is common among elderly individuals, becomes more prevalent with age, is medically refractory, reduces life expectancy, and diminishes quality of life for patients and their caregivers. Cultural barriers to dementia diagnosis exist and are potentially modifiable. Interventions that target younger generations may shift cultural perceptions and improve acceptance of dementia and reduce barriers to early diagnosis. Emerging evidence suggests that early cognitive impairment may have modifiable or preventable components and a combination of medical and lifestyle interventions may delay or reduce cognitive decline, particularly when delivered early in the course of disease. Health literacy, including perceptions of cognitive aging and awareness of possible modifiable determinants, could be unrealized barriers to diminishing the health disparity of dementia. Youth education programs focused on dementia could increase community dementia awareness, improve AD literacy of parents and grandparents of dementia- literate children, shift cultural perceptions of AD to improve its acceptance, and reduce barriers to early diagnosis. Such an approach could uniquely engage minority populations who are least engaged and at greatest risk for AD. Methods: The Intervention. “Old SCHOOL Hip Hop” (Seniors Can Have Optimal aging and Ongoing Longevity) is a validated model using a brief multimedia culturally tailored intervention designed to teach minority children key dementia signs and symptoms, and actions taken when dementia is recognized, which is early clinical evaluation by a physician. Twenty schools (with 3000 total students) will be randomly assigned to either the OSHH intervention arm or attentional control. This program will test the hypotheses that the program will lead to significant improvement of dementia knowledge in parents, and that gains are influenced by child knowledge, the degree of child-parent communication about the topic, and socioeconomic status. The program is additionally designed to create a novel, brief “dementia action test” to fulfill a critical missing tool for efficiently assessing dementia recognition and behavioral response.