Effectiveness of community-based health education on modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease among older adults: a scoping review

Abstract

A scoping review of community health education studies for dementia prevention was conducted to clarify the form, content, outcome indicators, evaluation tools, and effects of community health education interventions for dementia prevention and to inform future research in this area. This scoping review of community-based health education interventions for Alzheimer's disease prevention across eight databases identified five intervention approaches—culturally adapted interventions, health knowledge lectures, mental health education, multidimensional comprehensive intervention, and telephone coaching. These interventions primarily aimed to enhance AD knowledge and lifestyle modifications while evaluating outcomes across nine domains including knowledge level, cognitive functioning, attitudinal beliefs, psychological status, health behaviors, health status, life quality, self-management, and other indicators. The findings demonstrated significant improvements in dementia knowledge, increased adoption of protective behaviors, and particularly strong effects in collectivist cultural settings. Most notably, multimodal interventions showed synergistic benefits for both cognitive performance and community health aging outcomes. While current evidence supports the feasibility and effectiveness of community-based health interventions across age groups, large-scale randomized controlled trials incorporating geroscience principles are needed to establish causal efficacy in Alzheimer's prevention and optimize evidence-based intervention frameworks for diverse populations.