William H. Batchelder, Ph.D.
University of California at Irvine
Irvine, California

2003 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant

One of the best ways for health care professionals to identify the subtle thinking and memory problems associated with the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease is to seek information from the person’s spouse, family member, or close friend. Researchers have developed several of these “informant-based” screening tools that are short, easy to use, and accurate for assessing white Americans. But these tools may not be valid for other cultural groups whose members may have different beliefs about the symptoms of dementia.

This research team aims to work with groups of white, Hispanic, Korean, and Vietnamese older adults to measure and compare beliefs about signs of dementia and treatment options in each of those cultural groups. Data analysis will be performed using Cultural Consensus Theory (CCT), a statistical methodology developed by this investigator and his co-workers. Results of the analysis will be used to construct and standardize an informant-based Alzheimer screening test that is accurate for diverse cultural groups.