A new suite of culturally-tailored educational resources from La Trobe University has been designed to increase understanding of modifiable risk factors for dementia in multicultural communities.
The La Trobe University MindCare resources offer general, non-medical guidance and practical lifestyle tips to support dementia risk reduction from mid-life onwards, empowering communities to take proactive steps towards better brain health.
Co-created in cpartnership with multicultural communities, health professionals, researchers and service providers, the program is available in Vietnamese, Hindi, Greek and Arabic, ensuring accessibility and cultural relevance.
Lead Investigator Associate Professor Josefine Antoniades, from La Trobe’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, said MindCare reflected the strength of genuine co-design.
The evidence-based materials enable community organisations, local councils and other service providers to deliver brief, engaging workshops using their own bilingual community educators, she said.
“By working closely with communities, we have created resources that are meaningful, practical and easy to use. They equip bilingual community educators to deliver workshops in their own language and embed activities and discussions that resonate with their communities’ needs and experiences,” said Assoc Prof Antoniades.
Using the package, educators will have access to:
- In-language presenter slide packs with extensive speaker notes (in Vietnamese, Greek, Hindi, Arabic);
- A detailed facilitator manual (in English) to support preparation and delivery;
- Participant handouts available in-language and in English;
- Take-home tip sheet on dementia risk reduction (in Vietnamese, Greek, Hindi, Arabic).
The materials support the delivery of interactive, two-hour sessions tailored to the cultural and linguistic needs of community members.
All MindCare resources are free for non-commercial use and can be downloaded at: https://www.mindcare.org.au/preventing-dementia/educator-and-participant-resources.
MindCare is supported by the Commonwealth of Australia through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
