Culturally Adapting Evidence on Dementia Prevention for Ethnically Diverse Communities: Lessons Learnt from co-design

40% of dementia cases can be prevented by addressing 12 lifestyle factors. These risk factors have increased presence in ethnic minorities, yet dementia prevention messages have not reached these communities. This article investigates the experience of co-designing a dementia prevention animated film with 9 ethnic groups in Australia.

Evidence-based recommendations were adapted through an iterative process involving workshops with a stakeholder advisory committee and nine focus groups with 104 participants from the Arabic-, Hindi-, Tamil-, Cantonese-, Mandarin-, Greek-, Italian-, Spanish-, and Vietnamese-speaking communities. Data were analyzed using the Normalization Process Theory.

Cultural adaptation involves consideration of the mode of delivery, imagery and tone of the resource being developed; ensuring cultural adequacy; anticipating the need of the end-users; and managing linguistic challenges associated with working across multiple languages.

Learnings from this co-design process offer valuable insights for researchers and program developers who work with ethnic minority groups.

• Adaptation across cultures and languages is a negotiation not a consensus building exercise• Linguistic adaptation requires consideration of the education levels, and linguistic and intergenerational preferences of community members• Co-designing across multiple languages and cultures risks "flattening out" key aspects of cultural specificity.