Lay summary
Dementia assessment tools currently used in the diagnosis of dementia in NZ do not encompass a Pacific worldview and have not been validated with a Pacific population. The purpose of this research is to validate a newly developed assessment dementia tool for Pacific communities, known as the Pasifika Assessment of Cognition Abilities (PACA) tool. This incorporates cultural and spiritual aspects of health and wellbeing currently missing from mainstream tool use by GP and memory clinics to test dementia. The PACA tool was developed by a group of Pacific researchers together with the wider Pacific communities. We will pilot the tool for appropriate language with community elders. We will conduct a validation of the tool with dementia and non-dementia participants. Lastly, we will develop a phone app for Pacific dementia. This research's critical transformative output is the validated tool clinicians will use to assess Pacific people.