CORE--MEDICAL OUTCOMES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

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The scientific theme of the Wake Forest University Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) Research and Training Program (WFU-OAIC) is the prevention and treatment of physical disability from chronic diseases in late life through the use of non-pharmacological behavior-based therapies. The Program's research focuses on the study of both mechanisms and outcomes as they relate to disability. The Medical Outcomes and Social Sciences (MOSS) Core interfaces with the WFU-OAIC Program in a number of ways. The MOSS Core provides the expertise needed to develop and validate the assessment instruments for a major subset of medical outcomes used both to evaluate the efficacy of interventions and to operationalize disability. In addition, the MOSS Core provides the expertise needed to apply state-of-the-art behavior theory to the implementation of behavior-based interventions, as well as to recruitment, retention, and adherence strategies. The overall aim of the MOSS Core is to provide a broad range of services at no cost to the WFU-OAIC Program's IS', IDS' and Pilot studies, as well as training and mentoring in the areas of Medical Outcomes and Social Science Theories for junior investigators associated with the Program. Medical Outcomes are used broadly here to include: Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL), Cost-Effectiveness Analyses (CE), preference scaling and utility analyses, performance measures, and cognitive functioning. Other variables relevant to the Program that fall within the domain of the MOSS core, include: the social environment and social resources; self-efficacy; coping skills; life events; personality variables; other psychosocial constructs deemed theoretically relevant to our understanding of the prevention and treatment of physical disability in later years; adherence; and economic variables (e.g., prices, expenditures, financial assets, health insurance). In addition, the MOSS Core provides similar services at relatively cost- efficient fees to non-Program studies related to the treatment and prevention of physical disability from chronic diseases in later life. The Specific Aims of the MOSS Core include: (a) serving as the primary resource in the development, execution and analyses of medical outcomes and psychosocial variables in all ongoing and planned WFU- OAIC Program projects; (b) provide expertise to faculty in the development of new projects that involve Medical Outcomes or Psychosocial variables in older adults; provide training for new investigators; (d) assist in the appropriate application of behavior- based theory to enhance recruitment and adherence; (e) maintain an updated library of instruments and articles on Medical Outcomes and Psychosocial variables.