Strengthening Informal Support Resources with Strategic Methodological Advances

 描述（由申请人提供）：本申请旨在建立一个新的爱德华R。约翰霍普金斯大学的罗伊巴尔中心将提供有远见的领导和关键基础设施，以刺激，促进和扩展老年人行为和社会科学的创新研究。拟议的约翰霍普金斯罗伊巴尔中心（JHRC）将解决申请（RFA-AG-14-004）的两个重点领域：重点领域4 -分析影响老年人口的方案的新方法;重点领域5 -在家庭，工作场所或公司的新方案或做法，使老年人在特定的优先领域受益。司法和人权委员会的一个统一主题将是强调更好地了解和加强弱势老年人，特别是有身体或认知障碍的老年人的非正式支助资源。非正式支助资源包括若干方面，包括家庭因素（例如，婚姻状况、成年子女的数量和地点、照顾者的可用性）;一个人的社会网络的规模、结构和多样性;通过这些关系获得的接触、支持和参与的数量，以及非正式支持资源和更正式的护理服务之间的协调程度。随着老年人的医疗保健服务和其他计划变得越来越以家庭和社区为基础，并且越来越少地依赖传统的机构提供模式，将计划和服务扩展到以患者为中心的方法之外，还包括关键家庭成员，照顾者和老年人社交网络的其他方面，这一点至关重要。日本人权委员会的第二个经常性主题将是方法创新，以更好地推进证据基础，说明加强非正式支助资源如何有利于老年人的健康和福祉。六个初始试点 研究将作为JHRC的一部分得到支持，以解决老年人在各种临床疾病（包括痴呆症、中风、终末期肾病和多种慢性疾病）中的非正式支持需求。复杂的技术和方法进步对于有效地将社会和行为研究成果转化为 应用实践，使这些条件的老年人及其家庭的生活有所不同。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks to establish a new Edward R. Roybal Center at Johns Hopkins University that will provide visionary leadership and critical infrastructure to stimulate, facilitate, and extend innovative research in the behavioral and socia sciences for older adults. The proposed Johns Hopkins Roybal Center (JHRC) will address two focus areas of the request for applications (RFA-AG-14-004): Focus area 4 - novel methods for analyzing programs affecting older populations; and Focus area 5 - novel programs or practices at homes, workplaces, or firms benefitting older people in specific priority areas. A unifying theme of the JHRC will be an emphasis on better understanding and strengthening the informal support resources of vulnerable older adult populations, particularly those with physical or cognitive impairments. Informal support resources encompass a number of dimensions, including family factors (e.g., marital status, number and location of adult children, caregiver availability); the size, structure, and diversity of one's social network; the amount of contact, support, and engagement achieved through these relationships, and the degree of coordination between informal support resources and more formal care services. As healthcare services and other programs for older adults become more home- and community-based, and less reliant on traditional institutional delivery models, it is vitally important to extend programs and services beyond a patient-centered approach to also include key family members, caregivers, and other aspects of the older adult's social network. A second recurring theme of the JHRC will be on methodological innovations that better advance the evidence-base for how strengthening informal support resources can benefit the health and well-being of older adults. Six initial pilot studies will be supported as part of the JHRC that address the informal support needs of older adults across a diverse set of clinical conditions including dementia, stroke, end stage renal disease, and multiple chronic conditions. Sophisticated technological and methodological advances are essential to the effective translation of social and behavioral research findings into applied practices that make a difference in the lives of older adults with these conditions and their families.