Intervention to Raise Octogenarians' Walking Levels

描述（由申请人提供）：Sarkisian博士是一名董事会认证的内科医生，拥有老年医学附加资格证书。她的研究重点是预防老年人的残疾，特别是老年人对衰老的期望对健康行为的影响。她有很强的观察研究技能，现在寻求行为干预和临床试验方法的研究培训。作为她在保罗B计划中的主要导师。比森老龄化职业发展奖，大卫博士B。Reuben是老龄化研究领域的国家领导人，在进行NIA资助的调查方面拥有丰富的经验，他将监督Sarkisian博士的研究培训和职业发展，以成为一名独立的研究人员和老龄化领域的领导者。沿着鲁本博士，一个多学科的指导团队，包括卡罗尔M。Mangione是一位擅长社区参与式研究的卫生服务研究员，托马斯·普罗哈斯卡博士是一位擅长身体活动干预的老年病学家，伯纳德·韦纳博士是一位动机心理学家，将与萨尔基相博士密切合作，同时她进行拟议的研究，并获得新的技能，这将是她未来的工作至关重要的社区-在最危险的老年人中采取旨在减少功能衰退的干预措施。 由于定期的身体活动对老年人的健康和生活质量有很大的贡献，因此确定有效的策略来提高老年人的身体活动水平是当前的国家优先事项。然而，对于出生时已超过预期寿命的成年人，即80岁及以上的成年人，迄今为止，在能够成功地提高和维持身体活动水平的干预措施方面几乎没有什么可提供的。Sarkisian博士和她的跨学科导师团队设计了一种创新的行为干预措施，通过提高他们对衰老的期望来增加65岁及以上成年人的行走。拟议的辅导方案的目标 研究计划是为老年人量身定制这种干预措施，然后在一个小型随机临床试验（RCT）中对修改后的干预措施进行初步测试。具体而言，在拟议研究的第一阶段，Sarkisian博士将进行焦点小组，以确定老年人对身体活动的预期结果，并与她的导师密切合作，将设计一种基于理论的行为干预措施，以满足老年人最高度重视的期望。在第二阶段，Sarkisian博士将对60名从高级住宅设施招募的老年人进行一项小型的改良干预RCT，以获得初步数据，指导更大规模RCT的设计。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Sarkisian is a board-certified internist with a Certificate of Added Qualification in Geriatric Medicine. Her research focuses on prevention of disability among older adults, in particular the impact of older adults' expectations for aging on their health behaviors. She has strong observational research skills, and now seeks research training in behavioral interventions and clinical trial methodology. As her primary mentor on the proposed Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging, Dr. David B. Reuben, a national leader in aging research with extensive experience conducting NIA-funded investigations, will supervise Dr. Sarkisian's research training and career development towards becoming an independent investigator and a leader in the field of aging. Along with Dr. Reuben, a multidisciplinary mentoring team including Dr. Carol M. Mangione, a health services researcher with expertise in community-based participatory research, Dr. Thomas Prohaska, a gerontologist with expertise in physical activity interventions, and Dr. Bernard Weiner, a motivational psychologist, will work closely with Dr. Sarkisian while she conducts the proposed research and acquires new skills that will be critical in her future work conducting community-based interventions aimed at decreasing functional decline among older persons at greatest risk. Because regular physical activity strongly contributes to the health and quality of life of older adults, identifying effective strategies for increasing physical activity levels among older adults is a current national priority. For adults who have exceeded their life-expectancy at birth, i.e. those aged 80 years and greater, however, as yet there exists little to offer in terms of interventions that can successfully raise and sustain physical activity levels. Previously, Dr. Sarkisian and her interdisciplinary team of mentors designed an innovative behavioral intervention to increase walking among adults aged 65 years and greater by raising their expectations for aging. The objective of the proposed mentored research program is to tailor this intervention to octogenarians, and then pilot test the modified intervention in a small randomized clinical trial (RCT). Specifically, in Phase I of the proposed research, Dr. Sarkisian will conduct focus groups to identify the outcome expectations for physical activity among octogenarians, and working closely with her mentors, will design a theoretically-based behavioral intervention to match the expectations most highly valued by octogenarians. In Phase II, Dr. Sarkisian will conduct a small RCT of the modified intervention with 60 octogenarians recruited from senior residential facilities to obtain preliminary data that would guide the design of a larger RCT.