Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop: Improve Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge

Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Improve Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the knowledge of parents and children with respect to dementia symptoms, risk factors, and response before and after an interactive dementia education program that uses music and dance to enhance a health education curriculum at 1-week and 3-months after the intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Dementia
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: My Plate; Behavioral: Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop

Detailed Description

Public awareness of cardinal Alzheimer's disease (AD) symptoms remains low. Adults often underestimate personal dementia risk; minority populations are more likely to have low dementia literacy and be unaware of it. Cultural dementia belief in minority groups are complex and pose barriers to diagnosis, with dementia symptoms being considered a part of normal aging, or that discussion may be taboo even when recognized. A key barrier to timely AD diagnosis in African Americans is delayed physician contact, often years-long, following the onset of first symptoms. Despite studies demonstrating that dementia concepts first develop in elementary school periods, apart from our work, no dementia awareness programs focus on children. This intervention therefore addresses a major gap regarding optimal approaches for shifting cultural perceptions of dementia in low-income minority populations and reducing barriers to its timely diagnosis.

All R01 aims have been completed in this study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2244
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • Columbia University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 4th and 5th-grade children (ages 9-11y) and their parents (age > 20 years).
• Selected New York City public schools with similar socio-demographic composition.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Schools have already received pilot OSHH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programming.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control; School population without the Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop program, but with the My Plate program.	Behavioral: My Plate; The program selected for the control arm, "My Plate," will address nutrition, physical activity, and obesity education. This program was selected because nutrition, physical activity, and wellness programs are now being incorporated into New York City public school curriculums as part of a legislative directive. Trained facilitators will conduct "My Plate" as an entry point for the USDA's My Plate nutrition program. Students will learn about My Plate across the 3-day one-hour-a-day program.; Other Names: My Plate nutrition program
Experimental: Intervention; School population with the Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop program.	Behavioral: Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop; A school-based intervention called "Old S.C.H.O.O.L. Hip-Hop" (OSHH) or Seniors Can Have Optimal aging and Ongoing Longevity, to educate 4th and 5th grade students (ages 9-11y) about key dementia signs and symptoms, basic pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease, and the importance of early recognition, care-seeking behavior, and preventative measures (lifelong healthy lifestyle decisions). The intervention is delivered in a classroom or school auditorium setting, using an innovative, modular, multimedia program and home-based activities, to increase parental and family dementia literacy.; Other Names: OSHH Program

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
OSHH Program Effectiveness of Educating Parents at 1-week and 3-months After the Intervention Using ASK-AD 7	OSHH Program effectiveness of educating parents at 1-week post and 3-months post intervention using a 7-item scale: ASK-AD 7 (Assess Symptoms and Knowledge of Alzheimer's Disease - 7 Questions). Minimum value is 0 and maximum value is 7. Higher scores indicate greater number of questions answered correctly, indicating a better outcome.	Baseline (1 week up to 15 weeks prior to Intervention Day 1), 1-week post-intervention (1 week up to 13 weeks post-Intervention Day 3, but always before 3-month intervention), and 3-months post-intervention (10 to 24 weeks post-intervention Day 1)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
OSHH Program Effectiveness of Educating Students at Immediate-post and 3-months Post the Intervention Using ASK-AD 7	OSHH Program effectiveness of educating students immediately-post and 3-months post the intervention using a 7-item scale: ASK-AD 7 (Assess Symptoms and Knowledge of Alzheimer's Disease - 7 Questions). Minimum value is 0 and maximum value is 7. Higher scores indicate greater number of questions answered correctly, indicating a better outcome.	Immediately before intervention began (On Day 1 of programming), Immediately post intervention (Day 3 of programming), 3-months post intervention (6 up to 20 weeks post Day 1 of programming)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Columbia University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: James Noble, MD, Columbia University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 18, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 14, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 12, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 13, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): September 15, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 23, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 8, 2025
• Last Verified: October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Dementia, Schools, Nutrition, Health
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: AAAR5473; 5R01AG054536 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No