The New Brunswick Brain Health Initiative: Preventing Alzheimer’s by Lessening Modifiable Risk (NB-PALM)

About the project

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) has a big impact on New Brunswick (NB). Research shows that by reducing risk factors, up to 40% of ADRD cases may be delayed or altogether prevented. The goal of NB-PALM is to help older adults in NB improve their brain health and reduce the risk of dementia by creating and maintaining a system for providing brain health support. The evaluation of NB-PALM had three objectives: 
 
Objective 1: Community Engagement with Older Adults about Brain Health. 
 
NB-PALM created a survey for people in NB about involving older adults in brain health initiatives. 
 
Objective 2: Identify Prevention Strategies. 
 
NB-PALM provided brain health initiatives (SYNERGIC@Home and Brain Health Support Program (BHSP)) to eligible participants in their own homes remotely, focusing on factors that can be modified to reduce the risk of ADRD. 
 
Objective 3: NB Maps of Modifiable Risk Factors. 
 
NB-PALM developed risk profiles for dementia in NB communities.

Participants in the evaluation for objectives 1 (n=236) and 2 (n=300) were older adults (60+) who lived in their own homes. Participants were mostly women, and mostly living in southern urban locations of the province.

Conclusions and lessons learned

  • Objective 1: NB-PALM's educational tools can meaningfully engage older adults in learning about the importance of brain health.
  • Objective 2: It is feasible to provide brain health interventions to older adults living at home through remote delivery.
  • Objective 3: Community risk profiles can help identify high-risk communities in NB.

Recommendations

  • Objective 1: When developing brain health programs, it is recommended to create evidence-based, clear content that considers diverse communication needs for engaging older adults.
  • Objective 2: Scale and spread a home- and community-based brain health program based on the SYNERGIC@Home model.
  • Objective 3: Focus programing efforts within communities with the greatest need based on the community risk profiles and monitor these risk profiles to measure success of the interventions.

To learn more read the complete project findings (PDF 131 KB)

Knowledge transfer