$3 million grant to evaluate a culturally adapted approach, develop a research network and mentoring

"Caring for a family member with dementia can be challenging and stressful in the best of circumstances. Imagine what this experience is like for people living with dementia and families in Vietnam and in other lower income countries that don't have community supports and services.

According to the 2015 World Alzheimer’s Report, over the next 40 years the number of older adults with dementia in Vietnam and other low and middle-income countries will nearly triple.

The five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging aims to address these changes. 

The project launches in 2020 and is co-led by Ladson Hinton, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate director for the Family Caregiving Institute. It will evaluate a culturally-adapted approach in 350 family caregivers in Hai Duong province, north of Hanoi, Vietnam. Collaborators on the project include the Vietnam National Geriatric Hospital, University of South Carolina and University of South Australia.

“Vietnam and other countries in Asia are facing an unprecedented increase in the number of older adults with dementia," Hinton said. "This funding allows us to further build on a strong partnership in Vietnam, provide critical data for policymakers and hopefully more broadly share information to help patients and their families.”

The project is the first of its kind in Vietnam and builds on preliminary work conducted over the past five years with seed funding from UC Davis Global Affairs."

Read the full article at UC Davis Health Newsroom.