Feasibility of an Alzheimer's disease knowledge intervention in the Latino community

ABSTRACT

Background: Latinos experience disparities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) knowledge. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of a 45-minute culturally-tailored AD knowledge presentation for professionals serving the Latino community and Latinos served by Latino community organizations.

Methods: One-session AD knowledge lunch-and-learn events were conducted with 40 professionals and 37 served Latinos. Participants received a pre-post survey including questions on satisfaction, a subjective AD knowledge question and a 14 item objective AD knowledge questionnaire.

Results: Professionals (54.3%) and served Latinos (94.6%) reported the session as being very enjoyable and increased in objective AD knowledge (2.1 and 2.5 units, p < .001) and subjective knowledge (1.1 and 1.7 units; p < .001).

Discussion: A brief in-person culturally-tailored session of AD education increases short-term AD knowledge and is perceived as interesting and useful among professionals serving the Latino community and Latinos served by Latino community organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Alzheimer disease
• Hispanic Americans
• knowledge
• health disparities

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful for the help received from El Centro (especially Erica Andrade and Elisabeth Reynoso), University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Center, Juntos: Center for Advancing Latino Health (especially Norma Molina and Ana Paula Cupertino), the Community Partnership for Health, Cecilia Ysaac and Emma Green.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

Study procedures were determined by the University of Kansas Medical Center's Institutional Review Board as constituting non-identifiable, minimal risk, standard-of-care educational research. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

We provided each participant with a letter summarizing the project and emphasizing their right to withhold participation in any part of the project.

Key messages

• Latinos in the USA have lower levels of knowledge about Alzheimer's disease.

• The literature on Alzheimer's disease knowledge promotion among Latinos is scarce and has methodological limitations.

• Smart Aging and Envejecimiento Digno, a culturally-tailored short in-person session, increases Alzheimer's disease knowledge and is perceived as interesting and useful by professionals serving the Latino community and Latinos served by community organizations.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30AG035982 and the Prime Health Foundation [no number].