AGING
Our society is in a state of flux. Americans over the age of 85 are the fastest growing segment of our population. As the leading edge of the baby boomer generation prepares for retirement, another wave is quickly approaching. The time is ripe for making substantive contributions to aging research and policy, and the Jordan Institute is answering the call. Our Aging projects are involved in an array of research, education, and training activities to improve the health and well being of older adults.
| Project | Principal Investigator | Period | Source |
| Center for Aging Research and Educational Services | Gary Nelson |
07/01/05 - 06/30/06 | Division of Social Services, NC DHHS |
| The primary activities of CARES are providing training, consultation and technical assistance, and applied research and development to the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services. The CARES staff coordinates and trains in curricula that address working with disabled and older adults and their families in North Carolina, senior center development and executive leadership. The CARES staff also assists the Division in supporting their policy initiatives by coordinating and facilitating meetings and workshops, engaging in applied research that addresses caregiving and other issues for older adults and their families, monitoring senior centers, and writing reports to be used in information dissemination. A training database is maintained by CARES that registers and tracks enrollment for trainings. CARES also publishes two newsletters that focus on issues identified by Adult Service workers as beneficial for their work with adults and families. | |||
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| Defining a Good Death in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living | Sheryl Zimmerman |
07/01/04 - 06/30/05 | Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life |
| The proposed dissertation will examine the elements of a good death for residents in LTC (long-term care) settings. It will use existing theory and build on work conducted by others to: 1) Develop evaluation measures of a good death for competent and incompetent residents who die in nursing homes and residential care/assisted living facilities, 2) Examine the psychometric properties in these instruments, 3) Determine the relationship between the structure and process of care and a good death. | |||
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| Performance Outcomes Measures Project (POMP Advanced) | Gary Nelson |
10/01/05 - 09/30/06 | NC Division of Aging |
| We will assist with the development and pilot-testing of 2 performance outcome measurement surveys related to services provided under Title III of the Older Americans Act, including a service provider survey and a survey of older adults to obtain infromation about services received and the consumers' assessment of service impact and quality. The goal of the project is to increase national, state, and regional knowledge in relation to over-all services and service packages for purposes of planning, outreach, and improved service delivery. Project objectives include supporting the identification of appropriate cross-service performance measures, pilot-testing the measures by conducting interviews with clients and service providers in one NC region, providing usable data for state and national analysis, sharing findings with decision-makers, and making recommendations for revision of existing instruments and approaches. | |||
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| PPP: Gerontology Leadership Training Program | Rebecca Brigham |
07/01/06 - 06/30/07 | John Hartford Foundation |
| The intent of this proposed project is to develop, implement and evaluate a Practicum Partnership program including all of its required compomemts: a university-community partnership, competency driver education, a rotational mode of field education, an expanded role for field instructors and focused recruitment of students to geriatric social work. | |||
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| Quality Assisted Living for the Elderly | Sheryl Zimmerman |
03/01/05 - 02/28/06 | NIH-National Institute on Aging |
| The focus of the proposed research is on three areas that are especially relevant in this evolving field, the relationship between RC/AL quality of care and regulation, health care utilization and cost in RC/AL compared to NHs; and the implementation of LTC policy (RC/AL and NH). | |||
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| Quality of Life of Older Long-Term Lymphoma Survivors | Sheryl Zimmerman |
09/01/05 - 08/31/06 | American Cancer Society, Inc. |
| The study consists of a mailed survey to approximately 900 long-term survivors of adult NHL of varying survival times (3-15 years since diagnosis). The survey will assess the QOL and needs of this population, and will incorporate the theoretical base underlying PTSD, a recently considered and promising framework to understand long-term survivors. | |||
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| Testing the Exercise Plus Program Following Hip Fracture | Sheryl Zimmerman |
07/01/00 - 10/30/03 | University of Maryland subcontract |
| This study tests the effectiveness of the Exercise Plus Program to increase exercise behavior of older adults post hip fracture. | |||
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| The Wisconsin Adult Training Project | Gary Nelson |
05/01/04 - 12/31/05 | University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire |
| The primary activities will be to identify, in collaboration with CBSTP, and deliver twelve days of training curricula in the period commencing May 1, 2004 and ending December 31, 2005. CARES will adapt, develop, format and conduct train-the-trainer sessions and provide three copies of the trainer and participant pages and up to 40 copies of the participant pages for each curriculum. | |||
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