BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS IN PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application): The rationale from the proposed program is that the health of elderly adults will eventually be enhanced by broadening the source of productive researchers in aging to include faculty members from four-year colleges. To increase the number of research-oriented college teachers, thirty psychology faculty from four-year colleges will receive advanced training in several areas of research methodology from distinguished researchers. The intent is to have these college teachers be able to integrate their research experiences with their formal teaching. Specific objectives include: (1) increasing participants knowledge, skills, and motivation for pursuing an ongoing program of aging research; (2) providing participants with an opportunity to interact intensively with senior investigators who have a variety of research interests; (3) increasing participants awareness of grant support available for exploring new directions in aging research while providing an opportunity to interact with NIA program staff; (4) strengthening participants knowledge and skills related to the preparation of manuscripts for publication and dissemination; and (5) promoting the development of networking relations among psychology faculty from four-year colleges. For each of two cohorts of college teachers (15 teachers per cohort), there will be an initial two-week summer institute, ongoing consultation with the institute s faculty during the academic year, and a follow-up institute the next summer to provide participants with an opportunity to share their research proposals with each other and the faculty. Topics to be covered during the two sessions are: Research Design & Analysis (Dr. K. Warner Schaie); Issues and Approaches for Gerontechnology Research (Dr. Neil Charness); Evaluation of Interventions (Dr. Margaret Gatz); Assessing Older Adults (Dr. M. Powell Lawton; Issues in Research on Ethnicity & Aging (Dr. James Jackson); Seeking Grant Support (Dr. M. Powell Lawton & NIA staff); and Dissemination and Publication (Dr. Margaret Gatz). The institute s faculty will be invited to contribute to a special theme issue of Educational Gerontology focusing on methodological issues in aging research. The program will be enhanced by its collaborative liaison with the American Psychology Association.