Barriers to understanding Alzheimer's disease (AD) lead to delays of two years or longer in recognizing the signs of serious memory loss and seeking evaluation. Increased understanding about AD by racial and ethnic minorities is important because the proportion of minority people over the age of 85, those most at risk of developing AD, is projected to increase from 16% to 34% of the population by 2050. Research indicates that the prevalence of AD among African American and Hispanic persons is higher than for Whites. The problem of delayed diagnosis is compounded in minority communities that are frequently underserved with less access to health information and care. A CD-ROM multi-media program has been developed to increase people's knowledge about the differences between normal forgetfulness and early signs of AD and to promote early clinical evaluation. This program has been shown to significantly increase the users' knowledge about normal forgetfulness and AD. We propose to extend the previous research, which was limited due to a homogenous sample, by studying what is culturally useful for African American, Asian and Hispanic viewers. Focus group interviews will be conducted separately within each culturaVethnic group. Participants will be asked to describe what serious memory loss means in their respective communities and what families do when a member displays signs of memory loss. Participants will also be asked to view and evaluate the current CD-ROM program to generate ideas for revising the program to meet the needs and preferences of their respective culturaVethnic groups. The primary qualitative data will be collected using unstructured interview techniques and analyzed according to Grounded Theory methods. Responses to viewing the CD-ROM program will be collected using semi-structured and closed questions and analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. Findings from this study will be used to develop new versions of this program through a subsequent R01 application.
