Exploring an Adapted Active Caregiving: Empowering Skills (ACES) Intervention for High Risk Care Partners
Funded Grant
Overview
Affiliation
View All
Overview
description
New Americans are poised to make up a significant portion of the older adult population, and, similar to U.S.-born high-risk older adults, are at risk of poor health outcomes related to dementia. However, few efforts have adapted dementia care and caregiving interventions for this population. Existing adaptations have not been systematically conducted or documented, and have not focused on New Americans. The objective of this K01 award is to acquire targeted training in the adaptation and feasibility testing of behavioral interventions for high-risk older adults. The candidate’s training goals are to: 1) Build expertise in dementia, cognitive impairment, and long-term care for high-risk older adults; 2) Expand skills in the development, delivery, and implementation of adapted behavioral interventions for high-risk families; 3) Design and conduct a feasibility study with community dwelling older adults; 4) Apply advanced statistical methods to analyze paired, longitudinal, pre-and post-test, and clinical trial data; and 5) Obtain the experience necessary to advance as a well-rounded successful independent scientist. Mentored research training will occur in the context of a dedicated project with these specific aims:1) Explore the experiences and care strategies used by high-risk new American older adults with dementia and their informal caregivers. 2) Guided by the Ecological Validity Model, use the knowledge gained from Aim 1 to adapt the evidence-based Active Caregiving: Empowering Skills (ACES) for high-risk older adults with dementia and their informal caregivers. 3) Determine the feasibility and acceptability of the adapted ACES intervention with high-risk older adults with dementia and their informal caregivers. The candidate’s mentoring team has extensive expertise in these areas and will offer mentoring, consultation, hands-on training, networking/collaborations, and resources to facilitate the candidate’s career development. The 2020 NIA Dementia Care Summit Gaps and Opportunities highlight the need for research examining how immigration affects dementia care and caregiving. Completion of this research and training will meet this research need and enable the candidate to become a successful independent scientist with substantive expertise in dementia care and in adapting interventions for high-risk new American community-dwelling older adults. This is an important step towards improving health outcomes for these populations.
