Cornell Roybal Center for Translational Research

描述(由申请人提供)：康奈尔大学罗伊巴尔中心的目标是在社会融合和隔离领域应用令人信服的新理论和经验发现，统一目标是改善老年人的健康和生活质量。各种研究清楚地表明，缺乏社会网络和支持与老年人的大量死亡率、发病率和保健费用增加有关。此外，由于重大的生活转型，社会孤立和社会支持不足的问题在老年人中更为普遍。尽管这些转变往往是不可避免的，但社会孤立的后果可能会受到干预。在这次更新中，现有康奈尔·罗伊巴尔中心的优势和专业知识将与康奈尔系统内另外两个关于老龄问题的著名中心合并：威尔康奈尔医学院的老龄研究和临床护理中心和康奈尔精神病学部的老年精神病学研究所。康奈尔·罗伊巴尔中心的这个扩建部分将被称为老龄化和社会融合综合翻译研究中心(CITRAS)。这一独特的合作伙伴关系汇集了关于老龄化和社会融合的翻译研究的三个关键领域：心理健康、临床研究和社会科学。这项提议的一个特别重要的特点是，社区利益攸关方参与研究进程的每个阶段，从而承认孤立的老年人和为他们服务的群体的复杂、多层面的需求。这些伙伴关系将把中心的干预措施带到为社会上最孤立的老年人提供服务的地方，创建一个“实验室”，我们将在其中研究有效治疗的提供。罗伊巴尔中心更新的具体目标包括：1)促进和测试涉及社会融合对身心健康影响的以研究为基础的干预措施；2.将老龄领域的研究人员与实践者聚集在一起，设计和实施干预措施和应用研究研究；3.通过中心的管理核心建立一个有效的基础设施，以协调个别调查人员的活动，并最大限度地提高实际应用的有效性；4.开发、指导和评估关于社会融合和健康结果主题的试点项目；5.通过指导和协助调查人员，从联邦和其他来源产生资助的研究项目；6.特别关注少数群体社区的社会孤立问题，这将通过与纽约长老会医院少数群体老龄化研究资源中心的正式联系得到加强。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the Roybal Center at Cornell University is to apply compelling new theoretical and empirical findings in the area of social integration and isolation, with the unified goal of improving health and quality of life for older adults. Diverse bodies of research clearly indicate that deficits in social networks and support are associated with substantial mortality, morbidity, and increased health care costs in older persons. Further, the problems of social isolation and inadequate social support are more prevalent among older people by virtue of major life transitions. Although these transitions are often inevitable, the consequences of social isolation are potentially amenable to intervention. In this renewal, the strengths and expertise of existing Cornell Roybal Center will be merged with two other prominent centers on aging within the Cornell system: the Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care at the Weill Cornell Medical College; and the Institute for Geriatric Psychiatry at Cornell's Psychiatric Division. This expansion of the Cornell Roybal Center will be called The Center for Integrated Translational Research on Aging and Social Integration (CITRAS). This unique partnership brings together the three areas crucial for translational research on aging and social integration: mental health, clinical research, and social science. An especially important feature of this proposal is the engagement of community stakeholders at every stage in the research process, thereby acknowledging the complex, multidimensional needs of isolated older people and the constituencies that serve them. These partnerships will bring Center interventions to locations where most socially isolated older persons are served, creating a "laboratory" in which we will study the delivery of efficacious treatments. Specific objectives for this renewal of the Roybal Center include: 1) Promoting and testing research based interventions involving the impact of social integration on mental and physical health; 2. Bringing together researchers with practitioners in the field of aging in the design and implementation of interventions and applied research studies; 3. Creating an effective infrastructure through the management core of the center that will coordinate the activities of individual investigators and maximize the effectiveness of practical applications; 4. Developing, mentoring, and evaluating pilot projects on the themes of social integration and health outcomes; 5. Generating funded research projects from federal and other sources, by mentoring and assisting investigators; 6. Devoting special attention to social isolation in minority communities, which will be enhanced by a formal connection to the Resource Center for Minority Aging Research at New York Presbyterian Hospital.