Intervention to Raise Octogenarians' Walking Levels

描述（由申请人提供）：Sarkisian博士是一名获得老年医学补充资格证书的内科医生。她的研究重点是老年人残疾的预防，特别是老年人对衰老的预期对其健康行为的影响。她有很强的观察性研究能力，目前正在寻求行为干预和临床试验方法方面的研究培训。David B. Reuben博士是老龄化研究领域的国家领导者，在nia资助的调查中拥有丰富的经验，他将指导Sarkisian博士的研究培训和职业发展，成为一名独立的研究者和老龄化领域的领导者。除了鲁本博士之外，还有一个多学科指导团队，其中包括擅长社区参与性研究的健康服务研究员卡罗尔·m·曼乔尼博士、擅长体育活动干预的老年学家托马斯·普罗哈斯卡博士和动机心理学家伯纳德·韦纳博士，我将与Sarkisian博士密切合作，同时她将进行拟议的研究并获得新的技能，这对她未来的工作至关重要，她将开展以社区为基础的干预措施，旨在减少风险最大的老年人的功能衰退。

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.