The RSELVES Study: Remote Sensing of (older adult partners') Engagement in Life and Variability in Everyday Support

项目总结 阿尔茨海默病是全球老年人功能性残疾的主要原因。尽管 阿尔茨海默病功能障碍的必然性，在比率和顺序上存在很大的异质性，即特异性 功能丧失表明，有一些未被发现的方法可以减缓功能衰退的进展。这个 大多数老年人已婚或与亲密伴侣同居，他们的日常生活习惯 相互依赖(即同步活动或互补的职能分工，如购物和 烹饪)。尽管有强有力的证据表明，其他老年夫妇在功能上存在相互依赖，但 很少有关于临床前或临床阿尔茨海默病背景下的功能衰退的二元研究。 纵向研究已经证实，与痴呆症相关的功能下降的连续体开始于数年 在诊断之前，大多数功能的认知功能都有广泛的损害。之前的其他研究表明 表明在丧失功能能力之前，参与日常活动的频率开始下降。 RSELVES研究的总体目标是：遥感(老年夫妇)在生活和生活中的参与 日常生活支持的可变性“是研究日常生活参与和参与的内部模式和变化。 高危老年夫妇认知和幸福感轨迹上的功能相互依赖 患上阿尔茨海默氏症。我们将使用由 俄勒冈州老龄化与技术中心，以及发展背景下的二元方法 夫妻同步模型，以发现100对老年夫妇的生活投入和功能的变化。这个 这项研究的目的是表征生活投入和功能模式中的基线相互依赖 在有患痴呆症高危伴侣的夫妇中(目标1)；评估 生活投入(例如，二元脱离或伙伴补偿)和支持(目标2)；并确定 二元生活参与和支持评估在多大程度上缓解认知障碍对 老年夫妇的功能障碍和幸福感(目标3)。重建AD相关的功能衰退 夫妻作为一个相互依赖的过程，通过数字测量活动的同步性程度将揭示 老年夫妇生活参与度变化的早期动态并突出新的机会 以夫妇的日常生活为目标，以延缓导致功能依赖的“一连串损失” 患有阿尔茨海默病的人，幸福感下降。

PROJECT SUMMARY Alzheimer’s disease is a leading cause of functional disability among older adults worldwide. Despite the inevitability of functional impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, large heterogeneity in the rate and order that specific functions are lost suggests that there are undiscovered ways to slow the progression of functional decline. The majority of older adults are married or co-habiting with an intimate partner, and have daily routines that are interdependent (i.e. synchronous activities or complementary division of functions such as shopping and cooking). Despite strong evidence that interdependence in functioning exists in other older adult couples, there is very little dyadic research on functional decline in the context of preclinical or clinical Alzheimer’s disease. Longitudinal studies have established that the continuum of dementia-related functional decline begins years prior to diagnosis and at wide range of impairment in cognition for most functions. Other previous studies have demonstrated that frequency of engagement in daily activities begins to decline prior to loss of functional abilities. The overall goal of the “RSELVES Study: Remote Sensing of (older adult couples’) Engagement in Life and Variability in Everyday Support” is to examine the intra-dyadic patterns and change in daily life engagement and functional interdependence along cognitive and well-being trajectories in older adult couples at high-risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. We will use an innovative digital data technology platform developed by the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology, and a dyadic approach informed by the Developmental-Contextual Model of Couple Synchrony to discover changes in life engagement and function in 100 older adult couples. The aims of this study are to characterize baseline interdependence in patterns of life engagement and function among couples with a partner who is at high risk for dementia (Aim 1); evaluate longitudinal dyadic change in life engagement (e.g. dyadic disengagement or partner compensation) and support (Aim 2); and determine the extent to which dyadic life engagement and support appraisals mitigate the influence of cognitive impairment on functional impairment and well-being in older adult couples (Aim 3). Reframing AD-related functional decline in couples as an interdependent process and measuring the degree of synchrony in activities digitally will uncover the early dynamics of changes in life engagement among older adult couples and highlight novel opportunities to target couples’ daily routines in order to delay the “cascade of losses” leading to functional dependence in persons living with AD and degradations to well-being.