Supporting the EAST-Dem study: Encouraging Access for South Asians to Timely Dementia Diagnosis
Dr Naaheed Mukadam is a Clinical Training Fellow. She first approached RDS London for assistance with obtaining her first research grant, an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship
Project summary
The grant helped Naaheed design and test an intervention encouraging South Asian patients over 50 to seek help for dementia and get better access to services and care.
After determining the patient group for the study, Naaheed developed educational materials (leaflets and DVDs) that were sent to consenting participants at registered GP practices. The results were positive: suggesting that it may be possible to alter people’s attitude towards seeking help for dementia.
Naaheed is hoping to progress the study to a full trial. Since completing her PhD she has also been a co-author on the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, mainly highlighting the potentially changeable risk factors for dementia.
My RDS experience
Naaheed encourages researchers to contact RDS for advice and support on research ideas and funding applications based on her experience of our service, and the support our advisers gave.
It was extremely valuable to receive personal input from people in a different area to my field of research. My advisers encouraged me to include more PPI in the project which in turn made it more relevant to the community I was targeting.
