# Next-Gen ethnography to understand decision-making among diverse populations impacted by Alzheimer'sdisease and related dementias (ADRD)

> **NIH NIH DP1** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $90,052

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract (Parent Grant)
 Culture is central to decision-making in health and healthcare and especially consequential in Alzheimer’s
disease and related dementias (ADRD). Culture shapes how communities of patients and caregivers
experience ADRD, and culture shapes how medical and social institutions manage ADRD. As an expert in the
sociology of culture, I have developed novel methods for the rigorous and replicable study of culture in the
context of health and medicine. To date, my research has largely focused on culture and cancer. However, in
the last three years I have become engaged in studies related to ADRD. I am applying for the NIA BSR LEADR
award to bring my expertise to the field of ADRD research. I propose a project with two goals: first, to explain
how culture shapes experiences of ADRD in diverse populations; second, to leverage this improved
understanding of culture to develop tailored decision-support for ADRD stakeholders. My proposed project
includes four activities to accomplish these goals. (1) Use comparative ethnography – a qualitative social
science approach which is a principal approach for studying culture – to examine experiences of ADRD among
diverse populations who receive care in a variety of institutional settings. (2) Develop novel methods for the
analysis and presentation of the qualitative data produced by the comparative ethnography. (3) Characterize
strategies of decision-making among diverse populations impacted by ADRD, including how community and
institutional cultures shape those strategies. (4) Propose tools that leverage new understandings of decision-
making strategies to support patient, caregiver, and clinician decision-making in diverse populations and
institutions. The outcomes of this project include new understandings of how culture shapes ADRD among
diverse populations impacted by ADRD; novel methods for gathering, analyzing, and presenting data about
culture that achieve high levels of rigor and reproducibility; and identification of new approaches and targets for
interventions to improve decision-support for individuals, communities and institutions impacted by ADRD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10582973
- **Project number:** 3DP1AG069809-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel P. Dohan
- **Activity code:** DP1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $90,052
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10582973

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10582973, Next-Gen ethnography to understand decision-making among diverse populations impacted by Alzheimer'sdisease and related dementias (ADRD) (3DP1AG069809-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10582973. Licensed CC0.

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