Measurement & Prediction of Everyday Function Dementia

描述（由申请人提供）：这个五年的职业发展计划旨在进一步完善候选人的研究技能，使她成为一名独立和富有成效的研究人员，专注于评估老年人的日常功能障碍。培训计划强调三个内容领域：1)测试开发适用于老年人的生态有效措施；2)结构成像技术与神经心理学研究的结合；3)研究设计与统计分析。学习目标将通过以下几种培训方式来实现：a)定期安排与赞助商、导师和顾问的结构化会议；B)正式课程；C)定期参加现场研究座谈会和年度科学会议；d)直接的研究经验。该项目的目的是开发一种概念化和测量日常功能的方法，该方法：1)以神经解剖学和神经心理学为基础；2)对广泛的功能变化敏感；3)有助于理解多种因素如何促成和/或调节日常功能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This five-year career development plan is designed to further refine the candidate's research skills, enabling her to become an independent and productive researcher focused on the assessment of everyday functional impairments in older adults. The training plan emphasizes three content areas: 1) test development of ecologically valid measures for use with older adults; 2) the integration of structural imaging techniques into neuropsychological research; and 3) research design and statistical analysis. Learning objectives will be met utilizing several training modalities: a) regularly scheduled structured meetings with Sponsors, Mentors, and Consultants; b) formal coursework; c) attendance at regular on-site research colloquia and annual scientific conferences; and d) direct research experience. The aim of this project is to develop a method of conceptualizing and measuring everyday function that is: 1) grounded in neuroanatomy and neuropsychology, 2) sensitive to a wide spectrum of functional change and; 3) useful in understanding how a multitude of factors can contribute to, and/or mediate everyday function. Study participants will include individuals diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, and a sample of cognitively normal older adults. The proposed model of the functional changes associated with dementia has been adapted from the classification system set forth by the World Health Organization (WHO), [96] which describe the consequence of disease at three levels: impairment, disability, and handicap. These levels can be hierarchically arranged wherein 'impairments' (observable, externalized neurological manifestations of disease) are precursors to 'disability' (declines in the ability to carry out activities essential to normal life), which in turn is a precursor to 'handicap' (the social consequence of disease). In this project, all three levels of functional change will be assessed, with a particularly emphasis on assessing functional change at the level of impairment in order to increase the sensitivity to early functional changes associated with the preclinical and early stages of dementia. A new scale will be developed to assess functional impairments, which organizes these impairments into neuropsychologically and neuroanatomically-relevant domains. Measures of disability and preliminary assessment of handicap will also be included to examine the relationship between the different levels functional change set forth in the model.