# Defining a Culturally Tailored Crisis Intervention Model Targeting African American Dementia Caregivers in Socially Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

> **NIH NIH R36** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2021 · $62,200

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Health disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) persist among African Americans who
are two-fold more likely to develop dementias. African Americans also rely more heavily on unpaid family or
friend caregivers to meet the complex needs of care recipients with ADRD than other racial/ethnic groups.
Disproportionately high caregiving burden is experienced within African American communities, as many African
American caregivers reside in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods—environments with fewer health,
economic, and social resources. African American caregivers also report high levels of unmet needs, which often
escalate to the point of crisis. Emerging evidence suggests that crisis events, defined as unplanned stressful
situations requiring immediate action, are frequently experienced by African American caregivers. Yet, effective
strategies for addressing African American ADRD needs and crisis in the context of social disadvantage are
lacking. Although addressing caregiving needs and disparities are national research priorities, efforts to address
crisis events have been hindered by under-inclusion of African Americans in research. Consequentially, it is not
known how African American caregivers perceive and manage crisis events in socially disadvantaged
environments, limiting identification of interventions to prevent, mitigate, and manage crisis in this context. The
proposed prospective qualitative will utilize a validated metric of social disadvantage to guide sampling and
Grounded Dimensional Analysis (GDA), a variant of Grounded Theory, to examine ADRD crisis. Aim 1 will
identify precipitating, mitigating, and modifiable features of crisis among African American caregivers in socially
disadvantaged environments and generate crisis intervention model. Sub-Aim 1A will examine the role of
environmental factors in shaping decision-making surrounding crisis events. Finally, Aim 2 will validate a
culturally tailored crisis intervention model for African Americans ADRD caregivers in the context of social
disadvantage. The proposed research will provide the urgently needed foundational knowledge to better
understand and ultimately shape interventions for crisis events in a high-risk and understudied ADRD population,
African American caregivers—and is directly responsive to priorities of the National Institute on Aging (NIA)
framework “Aging Well in the 21st Century: Strategic Directions for Research on Aging.” The study addresses
Goal C of the framework: “develop effective interventions to maintain health, well-being, and function and prevent
or reduce the burden of age-related diseases, disorders, and disabilities.” Findings from this research will
establish preliminary design components for mode of intervention delivery building on identified intervention
targets.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10192202
- **Project number:** 1R36AG072033-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Quinton Cotton
- **Activity code:** R36 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $62,200
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-05-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10192202

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10192202, Defining a Culturally Tailored Crisis Intervention Model Targeting African American Dementia Caregivers in Socially Disadvantaged Neighborhoods (1R36AG072033-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10192202. Licensed CC0.

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