Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging

描述(由申请人提供)：我们的罗伊巴尔中心专注于认识到复杂的社会网络结构在个人健康中发挥着重要作用。我们工作的两个主要目标是(1)提出关于社交网络在产生与健康和福祉相关的具体结果方面所起的作用的重要问题，以及(2)开发涉及真实社交网络的方法来回答这些问题，在这些方法中可以测量与健康和福祉相关的行为信息。我们的Roybal中心将重点关注当今美国老年人面临的一些最紧迫的健康和福祉问题的社交网络基础，例如肥胖和癌症，使用各种适用于不同年龄段的人口的新方法。我们的中心将强调使用互联网数据收集和网络属性的实验性操作；此外，我们还希望继续利用我们现有的数据，包括我们独特的弗雷明翰心脏研究社会网络。我们将研究社交网络的拓扑结构和动态功能的影响。我们将研究InPerson和在线社交网络中人际网络连接模式对健康和福祉的影响，并研究跨网络连接的现象流动如何影响健康和福祉。我们的具体目标是：(1)创建一个中心，帮助开发新领域社会网络对健康的影响的新方法；(2)资助试点项目，研究网络拓扑结构，特别是在线社交网络如何影响健康和福祉；(3)资助试点项目，研究健康行为和状态通过网络结构的流动如何在“现实生活”社交网络中发生，如弗雷明翰心脏研究社交网络，以及在线网络；(4)帮助将试点项目的结果转化为具体建议，帮助人们改善健康行为和福祉，(5)帮助将试点项目和其他社会网络研究的结果转化为对政府和其他利益攸关方的政策建议，(6)广泛促进和协调我们单独的以社会网络为重点的计划项目对与老年人健康和福祉相关的问题的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our Roybal Center is focused on the recognition that complex social network structures play an important role in individual health. The two overarching goals of our work are (1) to ask significant questions about the role of social networks in producing specific outcomes related to health and well-being, and (2) to develop methods of answering such questions involving real social networks in which behavioral information relevant to health and well-being can be measured. Our Roybal Center will focus on the social network underpinnings of some of the most pressing problems facing the health and well-being of the elderly in the U.S. today, such as obesity and cancer, using a variety of novel methods applied to populations of diverse ages. Our Center will emphasize the use of internet data collection and the experimental manipulation of network properties; in addition, we also expect to continue to exploit our extant data, including our unique Framingham Heart Study Social Network. We will examine the impact of the topology and dynamic functioning of social networks. We will examine both inperson and online social networks for the effects of patterns of interpersonal network connections on health and well being, and we will study how health and well being are affected by the flow of phenomena across network ties. Our specific aims are to: (1) create a Center that contributes to the development of new methods for understanding social network effects on health in new areas, (2) fund pilot projects that examine how network topology, particularly in online social networks, affects health and well-being, (3) fund pilot projects that examine how the flow of health behaviors and states through network structures occurs in both "real life" social networks, such as the Framingham Heart Study Social Network, and in online networks, (4) help translate the findings of pilot projects into concrete recommendations for helping people improve health behaviors and well being, (5) help translate the findings of pilot projects and other social network research into policy recommendations for government and other stakeholders, (6) broadly promote and coordinate research with our separate social networks-focused Program Project on issues related to health and well being in the elderly.