Core E: Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core

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ABSTRACT – CORE E: OUTREACH, RECRUITMENT, AND ENGAGEMENT CORE The Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core (OREC) will serve as a liaison between the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and key stakeholders including patients, families, research participants, and a variety of professional and lay community groups. To support ADRC goals of advancing research and practice in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, the OREC leads the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative means of health education and community outreach activities, with an overarching goal of enhancing research study recruitment and retention. These efforts will be closely coordinated with the activities of the Administrative, Clinical, Data Management and Statistical, Neuropathology, Biomarker, and Neuroimaging Cores, and the Research Education Component; they will also involve key regional academic collaborators at the University of Michigan (U-M), Wayne State University (WSU), and Michigan State University (MSU), as well as ORE Cores within the national ADRC network. Community partnerships across the state of Michigan and Northern Ohio (e.g., with the Michigan chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Michigan Dementia Coalition) will enhance the reach and depth of OREC programs. Core aims will address the following: 1) education of key stakeholder groups about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and available ADRC resources; 2) recruitment of a diverse population of research participants through strategic outreach and engagement efforts, with emphasis on continuing to engage the Black American community in southeastern Michigan, facilitated by a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach developed with input from our Detroit Advisory Council; 3) enhancement of efforts to retain research participants in Center-sponsored studies, including its longitudinal cohort (LC) study the University of Michigan – Memory and Aging Project; 4) development and evaluation of a protocol for disclosing individual research results with clinical significance to participants in the LC; and 5) Contribution to Center efforts in professional training and education, with a focus on dementia researchers and healthcare professionals. In carrying out its mission, the OREC will draw upon the skills and experience of an interdisciplinary team with considerable expertise in dementia care and support, health communication, caregiver and patient wellness, patient and provider education and training, program evaluation, and community engagement. These activities will not only address local and regional needs, but will also contribute to a national effort to promote Alzheimer’s disease research and education.