BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
Regardless of age and throughout life, high value is placed on being independent. Unfortunately, as one ages, the ability to remain independent and in particular to age in place (AiP) or pursue one's life of choice becomes a risk laden venture, especially for those age 85+, a large and rapidly growing portion of the population. The ORCATECH Collaborative Aging (in Place) Research Using Technology (CART) program develops and validates an infrastructure for rapid and effective conduct of research utilizing technology to facilitate AiP. Our application fully aligns with the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) call for the creation of a sustainable infrastructure for the AiP research community, ultimately fostering efficient recruitment of research participants, identification and qualification of useful and usable equipment and software, the conduct of research, and collection and pooling of data using a rapid and reliable data management system. Importantly, the proposed CART program will develop and validate its activities using a unique research team with over a decade of experience in the domain specific to aging and pervasive computing research deployed in the homes of hundreds of older adults.

OBJECTIVE(S):
The Overall Aims of this proposal are to:
1. Establish and implement the administration and operational infrastructure for CART.
2. Design and plan the illustrative study protocols for the final Demonstration Project (DP).
3. Design the infrastructure and data systems necessary for the illustrative study protocols needed for the final Demonstration Project.
4. Develop and iteratively refine the infrastructure based on initial design, study requirements, user-testing and iterative system deployments.
5. Develop, execute, then analyze and share the results of the Demonstration Project.

METHODS:
In years 1-3 we will apply a systems development life cycle approach with iterative user-centered design and technology and infrastructure creation. To ensure sustained use and ecological validity of the data, the design is as unobtrusive as possible for research participants, as well as technology agnostic. In year 4 the developed system will be assessed in a Demonstration Project with an original AiP hypothesis fundamental to CART research: whether the system created provides evidence for sustained independence. The innovative AiP methods will be introduced into 2 groups of 30 veteran homes and cars (60 total) and around 360 participants from four diverse senior populations total.

FINDINGS/RESULTS:
No preliminary findings have been determined. Please see "Status" for more details on related information.

IMPACT:
The secure extensible data system for CART's multidimensional and hierarchical data will accommodate multiple, evolving data ontologies and schema. CART's Data Repository and communications plan will facilitate data and resource sharing of multiple users of different levels of sophistication ensuring the widest impact and dissemination. Several sustainability models will be evaluated, resulting in the high-impact research enterprise needed to create evidence for effective assessments and interventions to sustain health and independence for the growing aging population.

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External Links for this Project

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PUBLICATIONS:

Journal Articles

1. Wu CY, Mattek N, Wild K, Miller LM, Kaye JA, Silbert LC, Dodge HH. Can changes in social contact (frequency and mode) mitigate low mood before and during the COVID-19 pandemic? The I-CONECT project. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2022 Mar 1; 70(3):669-676. [view]
2. Wu CY, Dodge HH, Reynolds C, Barnes LL, Silbert LC, Lim MM, Mattek N, Gothard S, Kaye JA, Beattie Z. In-Home Mobility Frequency and Stability in Older Adults Living Alone With or Without MCI: Introduction of New Metrics. Frontiers in digital health. 2021 Oct 26; 3:764510. [view]
3. Nguyen MT, Mattek N, Woltjer R, Howieson D, Silbert L, Hofer S, Kaye J, Dodge H, Erten-Lyons D. Pathologies Underlying Longitudinal Cognitive Decline in the Oldest Old. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders. 2018 Oct 1; 32(4):265-269. [view]
4. Beattie Z, Miller LM, Almirola C, Au-Yeung WM, Bernard H, Cosgrove KE, Dodge HH, Gamboa CJ, Golonka O, Gothard S, Harbison S, Irish S, Kornfeld J, Lee J, Marcoe J, Mattek NC, Quinn C, Reynolds C, Riley T, Rodrigues N, Sharma N, Siqueland MA, Thomas NW, Truty T, Wall R, Wild K, Wu CY, Karlawish J, Silverberg NB, Barnes LL, Czaja S, Silbert LC, Kaye J. The Collaborative Aging Research Using Technology Initiative: An Open, Sharable, Technology-Agnostic Platform for the Research Community. Digital biomarkers. 2020 Nov 26; 4(Suppl 1):100-118. [view]
5. Yu K, Wild K, Potempa K, Hampstead BM, Lichtenberg PA, Struble LM, Pruitt P, Alfaro EL, Lindsley J, MacDonald M, Kaye JA, Silbert LC, Dodge HH. The Internet-Based Conversational Engagement Clinical Trial (I-CONECT) in Socially Isolated Adults 75+ Years Old: Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol and COVID-19 Related Study Modifications. Frontiers in digital health. 2021 Aug 25; 3:714813. [view]

DRA: Aging, Older Veterans' Health and Care
DRE: TRL - Applied/Translational
Keywords: Practice Patterns/Trends
MeSH Terms: none