Building a Community-Engaged Approach to Dementia Care

The three projects below are just a few examples of our ongoing CAB initiatives:

2 // Making Anti-Asian Discrimination Research Accessible

1 // Building Trust and
Inspiring Participation

3 // Storytelling for a Dementia-Aware Future for Korean Americans

My offerings

  • Led the process of forming the Community Advisory Board (CAB)

  • Created materials to clarify the purpose and roles of the CAB

  • Designed a 5-year strategy and plan to engage CAB

  • Facilitated participatory sessions to achieve CAB objectives like
    building trust within the community and disseminating knowledge

  • Co-ordinated logistics and progress behind the scenes

  • Built visual storytelling and illustration to support dissemination

Background
Dementia is not a normal part of aging. It's becoming more common in the US, and minority elders are at higher risk of not being diagnosed and treated properly. Early detection can slow its progression. Effective screening methods for diverse communities are currently limited.

Thus, the PLAN: 백세시대 뇌건강 지킴이 research study focuses on supporting 288 dyads of Korean American (KA) older adults and caregivers. Trained community health workers (CHWs) provide dementia care resources, addressing critical gaps for those with limited access to resources.

Co-creation
PLAN involved collaboration with two community organizations in NY and GW and a Community Advisory Board (CAB) to ensure the study design and implementation were culturally relevant and met the needs of the Korean American community. The CAB included locals from New York and DMV who shared their personal experiences and were instrumental in shaping the research's study process, experience, and dissemination.

I led, co-designed and managed the CAB. We established a three-phase framework:

1. Formation (Year 1: building trust, defining goals),
2. Implementation (Years 2-5: outreach, advocacy, communication), and
3. Sustainability (Year 5: evaluation & scaling the PLAN program).

Collaborator
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Nursing Research, Dementia Care, Caregiver Support
2019-2024, Baltimore, USA

CAB Members

Design principles that guided our work

1. Formation (Year 1)

  • e.g., cultural insight, interpersonal skills, guidance and support, and availability, responsiveness

Building a 5-Year Collaborative CAB Engagement Strategy

Developing a 5-Year Vision

Focus on Scope, Objectives & Deliverables

Various ways to actively engage CAB members

At Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School, we presented on our CAB engagement, detailing our processes and the impact we had. Our audience was a class of enthusiastic students focused on Community-Based Participatory Research.

Thank you for all the heart-warming conversations!

Supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (R01AG062649)

Haera Han, PhD, RN, FAAN

Ji-Young Yun, PhD

Deborah Min, MPH

CAB members

Tina Kim

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