Community Research Center for Senior Health

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Scott & White Healthcare (S&W), Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health (SRPH) and the Texas aging service network propose a joint venture to create and support the Community Research Center for Senior Health (The Center). The Center will develop, implement, evaluate and disseminate evidence-based interventions that address multiple social and behavioral determinants of Senior health defined in the Expanded Chronic Care Model. Center activities will address three specific aims. Aim 1 will focus on the creation of a sustainable infrastructure that promotes an interdisciplinary and multi-contextual approach to Senior health intervention research. Aim 2 will more fully develop community-academic health center relationships which foster community participation in research planning, study participation, and dissemination of findings. Aim 3 will provide guidance and support to investigators and community leaders in research design, evaluation, and data analytic techniques that balance the need for rigorous science and the practical realities of conducting health research in community settings. Activities are proposed to address each specific aim. A multi-dimensional evaluation plan is delineated to track progress, identify opportunities for improvement, and support future applications for funding. We will evaluate processes necessary for full implementation of planned Center activities and will evaluate expected outcomes on the health of Seniors in our target communities. Evidence of local support, including cost sharing of Center expenses, demonstrates a local investment in the proposed Center. Sustainability is addressed by an organizational structure that anchors the Center to empowered leaders of the participating academic healthcare and community organizations. These leaders have demonstrated the ability to obtain funding for community-based, collaborative projects. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It is vital to our nation's health that community leaders, healthcare providers and researchers, community service organizations and Seniors work together to find new solutions to address the health needs of Seniors. New solutions will come when we work together to better identify the needs of our diverse communities and develop new programs and services that are acceptable and feasible to the many groups which play a role in a Senior's health. This project will create the Community Research Center for Senior Health to make possible this worthy goal.