Study brings evidence-based dementia support to caregivers with limited English through cultural adaptation.

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has been awarded a $3.4 million grant by the National Institute on Aging for a large-scale study of K-Savvy, a culturally-tailored version of The Savvy Caregiver Program delivered in Korean. Following a successful pilot of the six-week online psychoeducational program, the goal of this wider study is to evaluate K-Savvy’s effectiveness in reducing depressive and other symptoms among Korean American caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. 

The Savvy Caregiver Program is the most widely used evidence-based intervention in the United States designed to support caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Previous research studies have demonstrated that the program reduces caregiver distress, burden and depression while increasing caregiver knowledge, skills and confidence. 

“For too long, caregivers in immigrant communities, especially those with limited English proficiency, have been excluded from the benefits of evidence-based interventions,” said the principal investigator for the study Yuri Jang, professor of social work and senior scientist at the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging. “With K-Savvy, we are working to change that by making proven support accessible, culturally relevant and language-appropriate.”

Each year, approximately 12 million people in the U.S. provide unpaid care to family members and friends living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, totaling more than 19 billion hours, with an economic value of $413 billion, according to a 2025 report by the Alzheimer’s Association. The stress placed on caregivers is tremendous, and is exacerbated by linguistic and cultural isolation in immigrant communities with limited English proficiency. 

“K-Savvy represents the evolution of the Savvy Caregiver program,” said Kenneth Hepburn, co-director of Emory University’s Roybal Center for Dementia Caregiving Mastery and lead author of the original Savvy Caregiver Program. “This culturally tailored program for Korean family caregivers of persons living with dementia illnesses has been accomplished through a sensitive, community-involved process led by Dr. Jang and her colleagues.” 

K-Savvy goes well beyond language translation, making cultural adaptations based on the experiences and challenges of real people in the community, how they think and what they recommend for future directions. 

“It has been incredibly rewarding to see how an evidence-based program can be adapted to meet the unique needs of Korean American caregivers,” Jang said. “By combining rigorous research with community-informed adaptation, we aim to understand not only whether K-Savvy works, but also how and why it makes a meaningful difference in caregivers’ lives.”

For more information about K-Savvy, including information on how to volunteer as a participant in the study, visit the K-Savvy website.