Living Alone in Older Age with Cognitive Impairment

 描述(申请人提供)：独居老年认知障碍本K01奖项的申请人是加州大学旧金山分校社会学助理教授埃琳娜·波塔科隆博士。波塔科隆博士的长期职业目标是建立一个跨学科的研究计划，专注于有认知障碍的独居老年人(OALA)的健康、幸福感和社会融合。在先前的研究中，申请人提高了人们对阿拉伯国家组织面临的独特挑战的认识。这一K01奖项将使波塔科隆博士大大扩展她的研究范围和方法学方法。波塔科隆博士寻求K01奖的支持，以扩大对OALA认知障碍的知识体系。这一最初的研究方向是由Oala地区认知障碍的高患病率推动的，而且有重大证据表明，独居的老年人有认知障碍可能会导致不良的健康结果。为了实施她的研究计划，波尔塔科隆博士寻求K01奖项的支持，以发展认知障碍、伦理学、研究和分析的高级定性方法以及学术发展的其他方面的技能和知识。这些领域的培训将使申请者能够实现以下具体研究目标：1)详细研究作为认知障碍的老年人独居的经历；2)了解这些人与他们的支持网络之间的关系；以及3)了解认知障碍老年人的决策能力，并探索这种能力与他们独居时的日常决策经验之间的关系。为了实现这些目标，波尔塔科隆博士将使用先进的研究分析定性方法，因为这些方法最适合在假设生成不成熟的未探索领域扩大知识体系。波塔科隆博士将招募90名Oala，30名被诊断为阿尔茨海默病(AD)的患者，30名被诊断为轻度认知障碍(MCI)的Oala，以及30名认知健康的Oala作为对照组。Oala将从加州大学旧金山分校的诊所以及当地组织招募。对于每个拥有MCI或AD的OALA，申请者将寻求招聘和面试一名线人。数据将由通过人种学访谈得出的个人叙述组成。这些访谈将辅以参与者的观察和对来自标准量化测量的数据的解释。将使用下文所述的高级定性分析方法来分析定性数据。这项创新的研究将建立对文化敏感的临床干预知识，以(1)提高对那些被诊断为独居认知障碍的人的理解，以及(2)确定将提高认知障碍Oala的生活质量的潜在策略。从这项研究中获得的知识和经验将使波塔科隆博士能够在高影响力的期刊上发表重要文章，并准备一份竞争性的R01应用程序，以解决OALA认知障碍的可能干预点。这项更大规模调查的具体设计将由 K01奖研究项目的结果。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Living Alone in Older Age with Cognitive Impairment The applicant for this K01 award is Dr. Elena Portacolone, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Portacolone's long-term career goal is to establish an interdisciplinary research program that is focused on the health, well-being, and social integration of older adults living alone (OALA) with cognitive impairment. In prior research, the applicant raised awareness of the unique challenges faced by OALA. This K01 award will allow Dr. Portacolone to significantly extend the scope of her research and methodological approaches. Dr. Portacolone seeks the support of a K01 award to expand the body of knowledge on OALA with cognitive impairment. This original research direction is driven by the high prevalence of cognitive impairment in OALA and significant evidence suggesting that living alone in older age with cognitive impairment may lead to poor health outcomes. To conduct her research program, Dr. Portacolone seeks the support of a K01 award to develop skills and knowledge in cognitive impairment, ethics, advanced qualitative methods of research and analysis, and other aspects of academic development. Training in these areas will enable the applicant to accomplish the following specific research aims: 1) to examine in detail the experience of living alone as an OALA with cognitive impairment; 2) to understand the relationships between these individuals and their support networks; and 3) to understand the decision-making ability of OALA with cognitive impairment and explore how this ability relates to their experience of day-to-day decisions when living alone. To achieve these aims, Dr. Portacolone will use advanced qualitative methods of research analysis, as they are the most appropriate to expand the body of knowledge on unexplored areas where hypothesis generation is premature. Dr. Portacolone will recruit 90 OALA, 30 with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), 30 with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 30 cognitively healthy OALA as control group. OALA will be recruited from clinics at UCSF as well as from local organizations. For each OALA with MCI or AD, the applicant will seek to recruit and interview one informant. Data will consist of personal narratives elicited through ethnographic interviews. These interviews will be supplemented with participant observation and interpretation of data from standard quantitative measures. Qualitative data will be analyzed using advanced methods of qualitative analysis described below. This innovative study will build knowledge of culturally-sensitive clinical interventions to (1) improve understanding of those with the diagnosis of cognitive impairment living alone and (2) identify potential strategies that will increase the qualty of life of OALA with cognitive impairment. The knowledge and experience gained from this research will allow Dr. Portacolone to develop significant publications in high-impact journals and prepare a competitive R01 application to address possible points of interventions for OALA with cognitive impairment. The specific design of this larger investigation will be informed by the findings of the research project undertaken for the K01 award.