Culturally Responsive Support Programming for Black Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT Black family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and/or related dementias (ADRD), have an increased mortality risk related to pre-existing health conditions and stress. Targeted, community-based health interventions that help Black ADRD caregivers to effectively manage their own health and use their preferred ways of coping, or cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage stress, can improve their overall health, perceived ability to provide care for a person with ADRD (self-efficacy), and increases the likelihood that they will experience benefits from caregiving. The proposed K01 Research Scientist Development Award aims to train a junior nurse scientist with expertise in qualitative methods how to effectively use longitudinal study designs to develop and test a community-based clinical trial that will improve health outcomes for Black ADRD caregivers. By describing the relationships between the adaptive coping strategies used by Black ADRD caregivers and self-reported outcomes including: 1) self-efficacy in caregiving, 2) perceived rewards, and 3) overall health, an appropriate model may be identified that will effectively shape the structure of an intervention. Focus groups comprised of current and former Black ADRD caregivers will further inform the intervention design. Finally, a pilot of the proposed intervention will take place to evaluate process outcomes such as success with recruitment, ability to deliver a telephonically supported intervention, and ability to measure study outcomes. This study addresses a clinical void in culturally responsive interventions developed for Black ADRD caregivers and supports advanced training that will lead to Stage I efficacy testing of the intervention.