Dementia Care Research and Psychosocial Factors

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Diabetes Management
• Neurodegenerative Diseases

Background:

• Mild Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) exacerbates the care burden for type 2 diabetes (T2D), particularly in older Chinese Americans.
• Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) presents a viable solution but faces underutilization within this demographic.
• This study addresses the need for culturally and linguistically tailored diabetes management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient and care partner satisfaction with CGM use.
• To assess the perceived benefits and hassles of CGM in older Chinese Americans with mild ADRD and T2D.
• To inform culturally sensitive diabetes interventions for this population.

Main Methods:

• 11 older Chinese Americans with mild ADRD and T2D participated.
• Participants used CGM for 10 days with real-time data shared with care partners.
• Satisfaction was measured using the CGM-Satisfaction Scale, assessing benefits and hassles.

Main Results:

• Participants (patients and care partners) reported high overall satisfaction with CGM (mean scores ~4.04).
• High perceived benefits (mean scores ~4.21-4.32) and low perceived hassles (mean scores ~4.09-4.11) were reported.
• Most participants (90.9%) had no prior CGM experience.

Conclusions:

• Older Chinese Americans with mild ADRD and their care partners exhibit high satisfaction with CGM for T2D management.
• CGM offers significant benefits and minimal hassles, supporting its use in this demographic.
• Findings support the integration of CGM into diabetes care for older Chinese Americans with cognitive impairment.