Pilot testing of a dementia literacy intervention for Korean American elders with dementia and their caregivers

BACKGROUND AND AIM: To test the feasibility and acceptability of a dementia literacy intervention for Korean American (KA) elders with dementia and their caregivers: K-PLAN (Preparing successful aging through dementia Literacy education And Navigation). METHOD: Twenty cognitively impaired Korean elders (Clinical Dementia Rating 1+) and their caregivers participated in a pilot trial to receive the K-PLAN intervention, which consisted of 1-h dementia literacy education followed by monthly phone counseling sessions and navigation assistance for 3 months by a trained bilingual community health worker. Outcomes of interest were linkage to medical services for dementia evaluation (KA elders) and dementia literacy, social support, self-efficacy in dementia care, depression, and quality of life (caregivers). Using a one-group pre-and post-test design, all ten dyads were followed up at 12 weeks. RESULTS: The K-PLAN intervention was highly feasible and acceptable. We were able to retain all twenty participants over the study period (100% retention rate). In addition, 100% of the caregivers would recommend the program with an overall satisfaction rating of 9.7 on a 1–10-point scale. Three of the elders (30%) were linked to medical services for dementia by medical record review. The effect sizes for caregiver outcomes ranged from 0.4 to 0.7 in absolute value. CONCLUSION: Dementia literacy intervention has the potential to promote linkage to medical services for dementia evaluation and early diagnosis among linguistically isolated KA elders while improving caregiver psychological outcomes. Studies with larger sample sizes, comparison groups, and cost-effective analyses are needed to inform the application of K-PLAN in diverse community settings. RELEVANCE FOR PATIENTS: Early diagnosis of dementia can help preserve functional status. Promoting dementia literacy and linkage to health services through community-based programs such as K-PLAN may enable underserved racial/ethnic minority communities to make timely follow-up for dementia evaluation and care planning.