Going Into a Community, We Need to Start From Where They’re At: Caregiver and Advocate Perspectives

We recorded and inductively coded an open-ended discussion of jargon surrounding “dementia” with the “Supporting Dementia Caregivers After Death” community advisory board (CAB). CAB-members included current and former caregivers of PLWD due to early- and normal-onset Alzheimer’s, Lewy body, and Parkinson’s, a co-president of the Alzheimer’s Association (ALZ) Young Champions, a dementia trainer/consultant and member of a Catholic church that preserves American Indian spiritual traditions, a senior program manager at ALZ who was entrusted by American Indian reservation elders to provide dementia education, a care partner support group leader, and an Alzheimer’s Ambassador chosen by multiple US senators. Themes identified included differential inclusiveness of terms like “memory loss” versus “dementia”, misuse and misunderstanding of “dementia” versus “Alzheimer’s,” and the difficulty of translating “dementia” into the American Indian Ojibwe (i.e., Anishinaabemowin) language where suggested translations directly translated to “slow memory loss”, “brain deterioration”, “absent mindedness”, or even “craziness”.

The African Immigrant Dementia Education Project: A Community-University Partnership

The African Immigrant Dementia Education project is a community-university partnership with the goal of developing a culturally tailored dementia education program with African immigrants in Minnesota. In collaboration with our community partner (African Career, Education & Resource, Inc.), a project advisory board that features professionals and family members from the African immigrant community was assembled and its first meeting was held in February 2021. Preliminary discussions about content, mode of delivery and cultural considerations of an eventual dementia education intervention have begun. This presentation will offer details on the process of working with an advisory board and community partner to identify and culturally tailor an evidenced-based dementia education curriculum for a unique cultural group. Also, we will present challenges encountered during this process and offer suggestions and strategies to promote successful researcher-community partnerships.

I Didn’t Really Fully Understand Until I Came Into the States: African Immigrants’ ADRD Introduction and Awareness

Most African immigrants report that they had never heard about dementia until their arrival in the United States. Conversations and insights from project advisory board meetings of the African Immigrant Memory Loss and Dementia Education projects (5 conversations and 8 meetings in the Minneapolis area) reveal unique cultural and immigrant characteristics surrounding dementia terminology and awareness. Dementia is often lumped together with mental illness which is associated with stigma. In addition to the fear of bad news and death, mental health issues are often considered a result of witchcraft, spiritual attack or punishment. Additionally, there are no traditional or cultural words for dementia in many African languages and current terms used are related to mental illness and all have negative connotations. There is a need to identify appropriate words for dementia in many tribal and immigrant dialects that can facilitate dementia awareness and education programs in African communities.

Promoting Inclusivity in Dementia Education and Screening in an Ethnically Diverse, Rural Community During a Pandemic

Rural, ethnically diverse older adults experience disparities in dementia detection/management. The Covid-19 quarantine exacerbated these disparities, and threatened faith-based dementia education and screening activities. We investigated the effectiveness of a telephone-based outreach for increasing dementia knowledge and detecting cognitive risk among a rural, diverse, underserved community of 89% African American, Hispanic, and Haitian Creole residents, Faith-based health educators, trained using virtual Alzheimer’s Association resources, contacted church congregants who responded to radio worship service announcements. Participants completed telephone measures of basic dementia knowledge and cognitive risk. Of the estimated 120 persons across five churches who received an invitation, 75% (n = 90) participated in dementia education and memory screening via telephone. Twelve (80%) of the 15 participants assessed as being at risk followed up with their provider. Rural residents are known for preferring face-to-face contact. Their willingness to complete health-promoting research activities by telephone highlighted the community’s interest in dementia awareness.

Podcasts and YouTube Videos: Innovative Tools for Disseminating Mental Health and Dementia Education to the Public

This symposium will discuss two examples of innovative public education tools used to disseminate evidence-based information to the general public about mental health and aging and Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias. The first is the Psychology of Aging Podcast hosted by Regina Koepp, Clinical Geropsychologist. Since it’s launch in April 2020, there have been 50 weekly episodes and more than total 25,000 downloads. The goal of the Psychology of Aging podcast is to facilitate access to information and education about mental health and brain health among older adults with the hope of de-stigmatizing mental health care for older adults, reducing ageism, and promoting access to mental health and dementia care for older adults and their families. The second is Dementia Careblazers, created and hosted by Dr. Natali Edmonds, board certified Geropsychologist. The goal of Dementia Careblazers videos is to offer easy to access information to family members who care for someone with dementia. In her weekly videos, Dr. Edmonds provides actionable, evidence-based information and resources focused on dementia caregiving in brief videos. Since it’s launch on YouTube November 2016, Dementia Careblazers, has 65,000 subscribers, has posted 231 videos, and has had more than 4 million views nationally and internationally. Drs. Koepp and Edmonds will discuss the role podcasts and YouTube videos play in public education and share tips for professionals wanting to start an evidence-based program of their own. This virtual modality may be of increased interest considering recent health risks through face to face interactions and advancements in technology.

Use of virtual and augmented reality-based interventions in health education to improve dementia knowledge and attitudes: an integrative review

ObjectivesImmersive technologies such as virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can potentially help health professionals and trainees understand psychological symptoms and responsive behaviours associated with dementia within a safe and supportive learning environment. This integrative review sought to ascertain the types of VR and AR-based interventions used in dementia education and training and its efficacy to improve knowledge and attitudes of health professionals or trainees.DesignThe protocol was submitted to PROSPERO and literature published from 2000 onwards was searched in eight databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane, Embase, PsycINFO, ERIC and Scopus. A total of 19 articles were included and assessed with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Methodological quality varied across studies.ResultsVR rather than AR-based intervention are used in dementia education and training for health professional and trainees. Immersive virtual learning potentially enhance knowledge, attitudes, empathy and sensitivity of health professionals and trainees.ConclusionsWhile promising, there remains a lack of conclusive and robust evidence to fully recommend the introduction and inclusion of immersive virtual learning in dementia education and training. Additional rigorously designed research studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the benefits on attitudes, empathy, sensitivity and knowledge.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020182083.

The Effects of Virtual Reality-Based Education on Empathy and Understanding of the Physical Environment for Dementia Care Workers in Australia: A Controlled Study

Background: There is support for the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) technology in dementia education. However, it is not yet known if VR is a useful tool for improving empathy and understanding of dementia care environments among dementia care workers. Objective: This study compared learning outcomes of VR versus non-VR (control) workshops for dementia care workers of different ages and English-speaking backgrounds. Methods: Dementia care workers enrolled in workshops on dementia care principles. Once participants were enrolled, workshops were assigned at random to deliver non-VR or VR-based education. Participants (N = 114, 91.8%female, mean age = 46.4; SD = 13.2; n = 60VR condition, 54control condition) completed self-report measures of empathy towards people living with dementia, understanding of dementia care environments, dementia knowledge, and attitudes towards dementia at pre- and post-workshop. Results: Significant pre-post main effects were observed for empathy, understanding of dementia care environments, and attitudes. Interaction effects were not found; improvements in outcomes were similar between conditions. However, interaction effects were observed for subgroups. Empathy improved significantly more in the VR condition for older participants. Understanding of dementia care environments improved more in the VR condition for younger and non-English-speaking background participants. Conclusion: Using VR may not augment teaching outcomes for all learners. VR may differentially assist leaners of different ages and English-speaking backgrounds. More research is needed to understand for which variables and for whom VR is a useful teaching tool.

The impact of an education intervention on the approach of hospital staff to patients with dementia in a Danish general hospital setting: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study

The number of patients with dementia admitted to hospitals is increasing. However, the care and treatment of these patients tends to be suboptimal. A response to this is a widespread implementation of educational initiatives. Nevertheless, the effect of such initiatives is questioned. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a dementia education intervention by examining the self-reported outcomes of general hospital staff and exploring the staff’s experiences of these outcomes. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design framed the study method. The quantitative data collection included repeated questionnaires: pre-intervention ( n = 849), one month post-intervention ( n = 618), and five months post-intervention ( n = 468) followed by a qualitative data collection using interviews ( n = 16). The GRAMMS guideline was followed. The integration of the quantitative and qualitative results suggests that the impact of the education intervention can be ascribed to the interdisciplinary focus, which facilitated a comprehensive commitment to creating careful solutions for patients with dementia. A prioritization of person over task seems to be assisted by an improved interdisciplinary cooperation initiated by the inclusion of all employed staff at the hospital in a dementia education intervention.

Establishing the effectiveness of technology-enabled dementia education for health and social care practitioners: a systematic review

Background Dementia prevalence is increasing globally and yet evidence suggest that gaps exist in dementia-specific knowledge among health and social care practitioners. Technological modes of educational delivery may be as effective as traditional education and can provide practitioners with increased accessibility to dementia training. Benefits of digitally based dementia education have been established including pedagogical strategies that influence dementia knowledge and care attitudes. This review aimed to appraise and synthesise contemporary experimental evidence that evaluated technology-enabled dementia education for health and social care practitioners. Outcomes based on Kirkpatrick’s Model were learner satisfaction; knowledge, skills, and attitudes; behaviours; and results. Methods MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Web of Science were among 8 bibliographic databases searched from January 2005 until February 2020. Keywords included dementia and education (and terms for technological modes of education, learning, or training). We included experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument established the overall quality of included studies and pragmatic application of Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool established individual study quality and highlighted methodological features of educational research. Narrative synthesis was conducted as heterogeneous outcome data precluded meta-analysis. Results We identified 21 relevant studies: 16 evaluated online dementia education and 5 evaluated computer-based approaches. Most studies used before-after designs and study quality was moderate overall. Most studies reported knowledge-based outcomes with statistically significant findings favouring the training interventions. Positive effects were also observed in studies measuring skills and attitudinal change. Fewer studies reported significant findings for behavioural change and results due to training. Case-based instruction was a frequently described instructional strategy in online dementia education and videos were common information delivery modes. CD-ROM training and simulation activities were described in computer-based dementia education. Discussion Future emphasis must be placed on teaching and learning methods within technology-enabled dementia education which should be role relevant and incorporate active and interactive learning strategies. Future evaluations will require contextually relevant research methodologies with capacity to address challenges presented by these complex educational programmes and multi-component characteristics. Systematic review registration This systematic review is based on a protocol registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018115378).