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Efficacy of a language-concordant community health worker intervention to improve community-to-clinic linkage for dementia care: results of the randomized trial PLAN
Hae-Ra Han, Nancy Perrin, Ji-Young Yun, Deborah Min, Simona C Kwon, Jinhui Joo, Ji-Young Cho, Sara Kim, et al.. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2026-06
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Linkage to medical services enables timely diagnosis and treatment, yet racial/ethnic minority older adults with limited English proficiency (LEP) face substantial barriers. We tested Preparing Healthy Aging through Dementia Literacy Education and Navigation (PLAN), a language-concordant community health worker (CHW)-led intervention, to improve dementia linkage among Korean American (KA) older adults with undiagnosed probable dementia and to assess caregiver outcomes. Methods In a community-based randomized trial, 287 older adult-caregiver dyads were followed for 6 months. Trained Korean-speaking CHWs delivered a 1-h dementia literacy education session plus phone navigation. The primary outcome was linkage to medical services, verified through clinic documentation. Secondary outcomes included caregiver psychosocial measures. Results PLAN increased linkage to medical services versus control (16.7% vs 0%, chi-squared [df = 1] = 24.05, p Discussion This language-concordant CHW model achieved verified community-to-clinic linkage at 6 months. Longer follow-up and testing across diverse LEP communities are needed to assess diagnosis, treatment initiation, and caregiver trajectories.
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APA 7th
Han, H.-R., Perrin, N., Yun, J.-Y., Min, D., Kwon, S. C., Joo, J., et al. (2026). Efficacy of a language-concordant community health worker intervention to improve community-to-clinic linkage for dementia care: results of the randomized trial PLAN. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71541
Vancouver
Han H.-R, Perrin N, Yun J.-Y, Min D, Kwon SC, Joo J, et al. Efficacy of a language-concordant community health worker intervention to improve community-to-clinic linkage for dementia care: results of the randomized trial PLAN. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 2026. doi:10.1002/alz.71541. PMID: 42233272.
BibTeX
@article{han2026-42233272,
author = {Han, Hae-Ra and Perrin, Nancy and Yun, Ji-Young and Min, Deborah and Kwon, Simona C and Joo, Jinhui and Cho, Ji-Young and Kim, Sara and others},
title = {{Efficacy of a language-concordant community health worker intervention to improve community-to-clinic linkage for dementia care: results of the randomized trial PLAN}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1002/alz.71541},
pmid = {42233272},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71541}
}
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Key findings
- Results PLAN increased linkage to medical services versus control (16.7% vs 0%, chi-squared [df = 1] = 24.05, p Discussion This language-concordant CHW model achieved verified community-to-clinic linkage at 6 months.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial with Korean American families, a language-concordant community health worker program increased linkage to medical services for older adults with undiagnosed probable dementia, compared with no linkage in the control group. The authors note that longer follow-up and testing in other limited-English-proficiency communities are needed to see whether this leads to diagnosis and treatment.
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Study details
- Study designRCT
- Participants287
- Effect sizeVerified linkage to medical services at 6 months: 16.7% vs 0% (chi-squared [df=1] 24.05, p<0.001)
- Evidence strengthModerate
Limitations
Single ethnic community; linkage, not diagnosis or treatment, was the endpoint; six-month follow-up; most dyads in both arms remained unlinked.
How this study scored 60/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial. We have no data on senior author's track record and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 56 of the 94 points we could judge it on, which is 60 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Alzheimer s & Dementia: journal h-index 228 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomized controlled trial |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 287 participants |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomized (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 0 / 7 | Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026 |
| Impact for its field and year | 0 / 6 | Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Hochang Benjamin Lee holds only 1 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 7 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 42233272) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 56 / 94 | Scored on 18 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 56 of the 94 points we could judge it on is 60 out of 100. |
| Total | 60 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Full text: free to read — PubMed Central lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 10 Oct 2026).
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