This FIRST application proposes a five-year descriptive cross-cultural community survey of family members caring for patients suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders. The primary objective of this research proposal is, building on Dr. Mintzer's preliminary work, to comprehensively assess the impact of ethnicity on caring for a relative with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders. This application proposes the study of specific characteristics in 300 caregivers from three different ethnic groups living in South Carolina and California eg: African Americans (100); Hispanics (100); and Anglo White Americans (100). This study will use random digit dialing (RDD) telephone survey methodology to interview a representative household sample in the study areas. We expect to screen 10,000 households in order to obtain the required sample. Prior to the stand-alone screening of 10,000 households anticipated for this study, preliminary work will be conducted in South Carolina, Georgia and California to evaluate the most effective scales and measures for the subsequent phases of the study. Selected instruments with demonstrated English/Spanish equivalency will be administrated. The assessment package has been chosen to enable the identification and comparison, within the three study groups, of the reaction of family members providing care for patients suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders where we feel critical ethnocultural differences are likely to be found. Specifically, prevalence and type of symptoms of depression and anxiety in family caregivers, the ability to tolerate the patient's mental health symptoms (measured as the duration and the severity of the illness prior to seeking professional help and degree of caregiver's subjective burden), knowledge and utilization of community support services, household composition, degree of sharing of caregiving responsibilities, beliefs about caregiving obligations, the caregiver's perceived social support, and caregiver's coping strategies. In addition to the telephone interview, personal interviews with the patient and caregiver will be conducted in both sites by the PI to validate the etiological diagnosis of the patient's dementia and the information obtained during the telephone interview. Finally, socioeconomic factors and degree of acculturation will be assessed.
| Mintzer, J; Nietert, P; Costa, K et al. (1998) Identifying persons with dementia by use of a caregiver telephone interview. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 6:176-9 |
