Current Research Projects
Project ENGOAL: Engaging Older Adult Learners as Health Researchers
Director/PI: Project Lead Silvia Sörensen, a gerontologist and associate professor of human development at the Warner School; Co-Investigator Joyce Duckles, researcher and assistant professor of human development at the Warner School.
Collaborative community project designed to develop patient partners to help shape current and future geriatric research, as well as clinical services.
Project REBUILD-VL: A Resilience-Building Intervention to Prevent Late-Life Depression with Vision Loss
Director/PI: Silvia Sörensen
This project aims to strengthens the capacity of older adults with vision loss to cope with current and future problems in order to prevent new depression symptoms and reduce current symptoms.
Collaborators: Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) and the Flaum Eye Institute (FEI)
Project ENGOAL: Engaging Older Adult Learners as Health Researchers
Director/PI: Project Lead Silvia Sörensen, a gerontologist and associate professor of human development at the Warner School; Co-Investigator Joyce Duckles, researcher and assistant professor of human development at the Warner School.
Collaborative community project designed to develop patient partners to help shape current and future geriatric research, as well as clinical services.
- Collaborators: Dr. Sandhya Seshadri and Dr. Craig Sellers, geriatrics researchers at the School of Nursing; Mr. George Moses, Executive Director at North East Area Development; Ms. Doreen Young, member of the Beechwood Neighborhood Coalition; and Rev. Phyllis Jackson, RN, director of the Interdenominational Health Ministry Coalition.
- Funding: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Eugene Washington Engagement Award
- A lack of clear translation of health research to improving older underserved patients' lives presents a serious problem in the field of geriatrics. Research is mostly conducted on older adults, as subjects, rather than with them, as partners. The lack of input from these older adults in research planning and conceptualization may compromise the relevance and accuracy of geriatric health research findings.
- The long-term goal of ENGOAL is build collaborations between patient-researchers, health researchers, and providers. Older adults from underserved communities can offer a unique perspective on their communities' values and priorities. In ENGOAL, we aim to provide education about and engagement in research among older adults from under-resourced areas in our city. The objective is to develop a pool of older adult health researchers (i.e., patient partners) who can be called upon to make meaningful contributions as co-researchers to existing and future research projects and/or be valued consultants on research projects and clinical services.
- The year-long ENGOAL program provides six months of weekly classes and 4-6 months of research apprenticeship for participants.
Project REBUILD-VL: A Resilience-Building Intervention to Prevent Late-Life Depression with Vision Loss
Director/PI: Silvia Sörensen
This project aims to strengthens the capacity of older adults with vision loss to cope with current and future problems in order to prevent new depression symptoms and reduce current symptoms.
Collaborators: Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) and the Flaum Eye Institute (FEI)