The overall goal of this Exploratory Center on Health Promotion in Ethnic Minority Populations is to improve the health of ethnic elders with dementia and their caregivers through a complementary set of research, intervention, educational, and outreach activities. The Center addresses the urgent need to understand how ethnic minorities and their caregivers experience and cope with this serious and debilitating illness in order to develop effective interventions. The center will focus its activities on three of the most populous ethnic minority groups in the Boston area: African-Americans, Chinese, and Puerto Ricans. The research core will involve the development of small scale pilot studies to understand how cultural factors influence (1) elders' recognition and response to symptoms of dementing disorders; (2) caregivers' response and coping; and (3) assessment and response by the health care community. The pilot studies rely on two different types of research approaches: quantitative studies and qualitative/ethnographic studies in order to generate hypotheses and methodological refinements for analyzing these issues in large scale prospective studies. The intervention core proposes to adapt three existing interventions which have already been validated and to test their efficacy in pilot studies among ethnic minority populations. The interventions are designed to reduce excess disability among elders with dementia and to enhance the coping capabilities of their caregivers. The educational core seeks to address the need for culturally appropriate education and training related to dementia. Specific activities will include the provision of education and outreach to staff of health and social agencies, the public, state legislators, academic faculty, and medical students.
