Browsing by Author "Cureton, Bianca"

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    Community Centered Approaches to Increase Participation of African Americans in Brain Health and ADRD Research
    (Oxford University Press, 2022-12-20) Barnes, Priscilla; Cureton, Bianca; Jessup, Nenette; Sutton, Natalie; Hill, Carl; Shih, Patrick; Hendrie, Hugh; Lu, Yvonne; School of Nursing
    African Americans/Blacks continue to be underrepresented as participants in Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia (ADRD) and brain research. Numerous challenges such as lack of information about the Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia (ADRD), socioeconomic barriers, historical and systemic racism, and distrust of research goals and processes persist in research participation. Research approaches tend to be more recruitment oriented rather than partnership driven that do not address these challenges. As a result, community engagement approaches are increasingly being recognized as a means of building trust and creating new pathways for participation in ADRD studies. This poster focuses on the preliminary work of the Collaborative on Aging Research and Engagement (CARE) --- a community academic partnership comprising the CARE Advisory Team (a community action team of 10 African American leaders), Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Indiana Chapter, IU Schools of Nursing, Public Health, and Informatics, Computer Science, and Engineering, and the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. The goal of the partnership is to facilitate active engagement of African Americans aged 45 years and older in research opportunities taking place in in Central and Northwest Indiana. Experiences and perspectives shared at the CARE Advisory Team meetings as well as memos from the researcher staff generated five lessons learned in building relationship oriented, as opposed to recruitment driven, processes. These lessons will be used to develop a community engagement framework focused on the integration of culturally relevant outreach practices in promoting ADRD research opportunities in African American/Black communities.
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    Designing a Multimodal and Culturally Relevant Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementia Generative Artificial Intelligence Tool for Black American Informal Caregivers: Cognitive Walk-Through Usability Study
    (JMIR, 2025-01-08) Bosco, Cristina; Otenen, Ege; Torres, John Osorio; Nguyen, Vivian; Chheda, Darshil; Peng, Xinran; Jessup, Nenette M.; Himes, Anna K.; Cureton, Bianca; Lu, Yvonne; Hill, Carl V.; Hendrie, Hugh C.; Barnes, Priscilla A.; Shih, Patrick C.; School of Nursing
    Background: Many members of Black American communities, faced with the high prevalence of Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) within their demographic, find themselves taking on the role of informal caregivers. Despite being the primary individuals responsible for the care of individuals with ADRD, these caregivers often lack sufficient knowledge about ADRD-related health literacy and feel ill-prepared for their caregiving responsibilities. Generative AI has become a new promising technological innovation in the health care domain, particularly for improving health literacy; however, some generative AI developments might lead to increased bias and potential harm toward Black American communities. Therefore, rigorous development of generative AI tools to support the Black American community is needed. Objective: The goal of this study is to test Lola, a multimodal mobile app, which, by relying on generative AI, facilitates access to ADRD-related health information by enabling speech and text as inputs and providing auditory, textual, and visual outputs. Methods: To test our mobile app, we used the cognitive walk-through methodology, and we recruited 15 informal ADRD caregivers who were older than 50 years and part of the Black American community living within the region. We asked them to perform 3 tasks on the mobile app (ie, searching for an article on brain health, searching for local events, and finally, searching for opportunities to participate in scientific research in their area), then we recorded their opinions and impressions. The main aspects to be evaluated were the mobile app's usability, accessibility, cultural relevance, and adoption. Results: Our findings highlight the users' need for a system that enables interaction with different modalities, the need for a system that can provide personalized and culturally and contextually relevant information, and the role of community and physical spaces in increasing the use of Lola. Conclusions: Our study shows that, when designing for Black American older adults, a multimodal interaction with the generative AI system can allow individuals to choose their own interaction way and style based upon their interaction preferences and external constraints. This flexibility of interaction modes can guarantee an inclusive and engaging generative AI experience.
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    Testing 3 Modalities (Voice Assistant, Chatbot, and Mobile App) to Assist Older African American and Black Adults in Seeking Information on Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: Wizard of Oz Usability Study
    (JMIR, 2024-12-09) Bosco, Cristina; Shojaei, Fereshtehossadat; Theisz, Alec Andrew; Torres, John Osorio; Cureton, Bianca; Himes, Anna K.; Jessup, Nenette M.; Barnes, Priscilla A.; Lu, Yvonne; Hendrie, Hugh C.; Hill, Carl V.; Shih, Patrick C.; School of Nursing
    Background: Older African American and Black adults are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) and have the lowest level of ADRD health literacy compared to any other ethnic group in the United States. Low health literacy concerning ADRD negatively impacts African American and Black people in accessing adequate health care. Objective: This study explored how 3 technological modalities-voice assistants, chatbots, and mobile apps-can assist older African American and Black adults in accessing ADRD information to improve ADRD health literacy. By testing each modality independently, the focus could be kept on understanding the unique needs and challenges of this population concerning the use of each modality when accessing ADRD-related information. Methods: Using the Wizard of Oz usability testing method, we assessed the 3 modalities with a sample of 15 older African American and Black adults aged >55 years. The 15 participants were asked to interact with the 3 modalities to search for information on local events happening in their geographical area and search for ADRD-related health information. Results: Our findings revealed that, across the 3 modalities, the content should avoid convoluted and complex language and give the possibility to save, store, and share it to be fully accessible by this population. In addition, content should come from credible sources, including information tailored to the participants' cultural values, as it has to be culturally relevant for African American and Black communities. Finally, the interaction with the tool must be time efficient, and it should be adapted to the user's needs to foster a sense of control and representation. Conclusions: We conclude that, when designing ADRD-related interventions for African American and Black older adults, it proves to be crucial to tailor the content provided by the technology to the community's values and construct an interaction with the technology that is built on African American and Black communities' needs and demands.