# Old SCHOOL Hip Hop: A randomized controlled trial to improve dementia knowledge

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2021 · $728,928

## Abstract

Objectives: The goals of this proposal are to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel culturally-
tailored dementia education intervention to a) teach young children to recognize dementia
symptoms and demonstrate an appropriate action plan (which we have termed dementia literacy)
and b) have these dementia literate children teach and improve dementia literacy their parents
and grandparents.
Background: Dementia is common among elderly individuals, becomes more prevalent with age,
is medically refractory, reduces life expectancy, and diminishes quality of life for patients and
their caregivers. Cultural barriers to dementia diagnosis exist and are potentially modifiable.
Interventions that target younger generations may shift cultural perceptions and improve
acceptance of dementia and reduce barriers to early diagnosis. Emerging evidence suggests that
early cognitive impairment may have modifiable or preventable components and a combination
of medical and lifestyle interventions may delay or reduce cognitive decline, particularly when
delivered early in the course of disease. Health literacy, including perceptions of cognitive aging
and awareness of possible modifiable determinants, could be unrealized barriers to diminishing
the health disparity of dementia. Youth education programs focused on dementia could increase
community dementia awareness, improve AD literacy of parents and grandparents of dementia-
literate children, shift cultural perceptions of AD to improve its acceptance, and reduce barriers
to early diagnosis. Such an approach could uniquely engage minority populations who are least
engaged and at greatest risk for AD.
Methods: The Intervention. “Old SCHOOL Hip Hop” (Seniors Can Have Optimal aging and
Ongoing Longevity) is a validated model using a brief multimedia culturally tailored intervention
designed to teach minority children key dementia signs and symptoms, and actions taken when
dementia is recognized, which is early clinical evaluation by a physician. Twenty schools (with
3000 total students) will be randomly assigned to either the OSHH intervention arm or
attentional control. This program will test the hypotheses that the program will lead to significant
improvement of dementia knowledge in parents, and that gains are influenced by child
knowledge, the degree of child-parent communication about the topic, and socioeconomic status.
The program is additionally designed to create a novel, brief “dementia action test” to fulfill a
critical missing tool for efficiently assessing dementia recognition and behavioral response.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10140255
- **Project number:** 5R01AG054536-05
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** James McCallum Noble
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $728,928
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-30 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10140255

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10140255, Old SCHOOL Hip Hop: A randomized controlled trial to improve dementia knowledge (5R01AG054536-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10140255. Licensed CC0.

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