Principal Investigator:  Ladson Hinton, M.D.

California's elderly population is becoming more ethnically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse.  To meet the challenge to our state's health care systems of these projected shifts in our aging population and to reduce healthcare disparities, more empirical data is needed.  Specifically, we need to understand the dynamic interplay of patient/family and healthcare systems factors that leads to good or poor quality care.  Also needed are studies of the interaction of culture, psychology, and biology in diverse older adults that will contribute to our understanding of basic biobehavioral processes in later life. 

Our research emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of social and cultural influences on the recognition, interpretation, and management for mental health problems among older adults, their families, and the health care system.  Dementia and depression, two conditions that cause substantial suffering and disability in all older adults, are a major focus of this program.  Current projects include:

• predictors of service utilization among Latino elderly with cognitive and behavioral symptoms
• cross-ethnic comparison of help-seeking behaviors and barriers to care for dementia in primary care
• gender influences on late life depression care
• sociocultural influences on family caregiving experiences (e.g. stigma, religiosity and spirituality)

This research program is interdisciplinary (e.g. medical anthropology, health services research, geropsychiatry, neurology) and emphasizes the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches.  A major goal of this program of research is to identify and overcome barriers to care for California's diverse older population.

Dr. Hinton is an Associate Professor and the Education and the Information Transfer Core Director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Principal Investigator:  Hendry Ton, M.D.

Dr. Ton is currently conducting a case-control study examining the impact of cultural consultations utilizing the DSM-IV-TR Outline for Cultural Formulation on the number of hospital days and rates of rehospitalization in psychiatric patients from various ethnic backgrounds.