Gabriela Caballero

Dementia Friends Unite! A community co-produced multilingual dementia education initiative

People living with dementia and their carers, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, experience inequitable access to dementia education. Dementia knowledge gaps and negative attitudes that hinder supportive practices persist among family carers, support workers, allied health professionals, and city councils. Co-production is an inclusive approach where service users and providers actively collaborate to develop culturally sensitive initiatives. This approach enhances understanding community nuances and needs, improving information access and acceptability .

Our study aims to co-produce and evaluate the impact and feasibility of a multilingual dementia education initiative with and for multicultural communities and related workforces. We are targeting English, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Greek-speaking people in South Western Sydney. The initiative involves three 2-hour information sessions delivered by bilingual co-facilitators per language group. We will evaluate stakeholder engagement throughout co-production using a survey. We will evaluate the initiative using mixed methods through the RE-AIM framework: reach (on participants); effectiveness (on participants’ knowledge, attitudes, supportive practices); acceptability and adoption (among stakeholders), implementation (by trained bilingual facilitators), and maintenance over time. We expect the education initiative to increase awareness about dementia, available services, and better care. We also expect the findings to offer a methodological blueprint, informing similar implementation efforts within the research community and other dementia alliances.

Supervisors:

Dr Diana Karamacoska; Associate Professor Genevieve Steiner; Dr Joyce Ng; Associate Professor Ann Dadich