There is a growing emphasis to use a transdisciplinary team approach to accelerate innovations in science to solve complex conditions associated with aging. However, the optimal organizational structure and process for how to accomplish transdisciplinary team science is unclear. In this forum, we illustrate our team’s experience using transdisciplinary approaches to solve challenging and persistent problems for older adults living in urban communities. We describe our challenges and successes using the National Institutes of Health four-phase model of transdisciplinary team-based research. Using a de-identified survey, the team conducted an internal evaluation to identify features that created challenges including structural incongruities, interprofessional blind spots, group function, and group dynamics. This work resulted in the creation of the team’s Transdisciplinary Conceptual Model. This model became essential to understanding the complex interplay between societal factors, community partners, and academic partners. Conducting internal evaluations of transdisciplinary team processes is integral for teams to move beyond the multi- and interdisciplinary niche and to reach true transdisciplinary success. More research is needed to develop measures that assess team transdisciplinary integration. Once the process of transdisciplinary integration can be reliably assessed, the next step would be to determine the impact of transdisciplinary team science initiatives on aging communities.
Objectives: Older adults have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The primary goal of this study is to determine the socioeconomic effects on psychosocial factors among low-income independent-living older adults, in an urban setting, during the COVID-pandemic. Methods: Participants were recruited through Virginia Commonwealth University’s Richmond Health and Wellness Program. Telephone surveys ( n=100) were conducted using the Epidemic – Pandemic Impacts Inventory Geriatric with the Racial/Ethnic Discrimination addendum. Responses were analyzed for income and education effects across seven domains: home life, social activities/isolation, economic, emotional health-wellbeing, physical health, COVID-infection history, and positive change behaviors/experiences. Results: The sample population was between 51 and 87 years of age, 88% were Black, 57% reported incomes of $10,000/year or less, and 60% reported a high-school education or less. There were income effects for social activities/isolation (f = 3.69, p<.05) and positive change (f = 8.40, p<.01), and education effects for COVID History (f = 4.20, p <.04). Discussion: Overall results highlight the social patterns for a diverse sample of low-income urban older adults; education and income are identified as risk factors for social losses, COVID-infection experiences, racial/ethnic discrimination during the COVID-pandemic, and positive change behaviors.
Older adults (i.e., 60 years and older), are the leading consumers of medications, and consequently are suffering the most from medication-related adverse events. Not only are older adults the largest consumers of medications, they are more likely to experience an adverse drug event contributing to increased hospitalization, utilization of emergency medical services, and mortality. Translational Approaches to Personalized Health (TAPH) is a transdisciplinary team of researchers conducting community-engaged participatory research focused on the discovery and translation of pharmacogenomic (PGx) data to improve health outcomes. Underserved and ethnically diverse older adults living in urban settings are significantly underrepresented in PGx studies. To address the issue of under-representation, our study enrolls older African American adults into a community-based PGx study. Therefore, we will characterize the frequency of actionable PGx genotypes and identify novel PGx response genes in our cohort of older community dwelling African Americans. The translational component of our work is to use the PGx findings to improve therapeutic outcomes for medication management in older adults. Such findings will serve as a foundation for translational PGx studies aimed at improving medication efficacy and safety for older adults. In this article, we describe the process for launching the TAPH collaborative group, which includes the transdisciplinary team, community-engaged participatory research model, study measures, and the evaluation of PGx genes.
Taking a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study describes the lived experiences of low-income older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A socio-ecological model was used to organize the five identified themes describing the lived experience: socio-economic context, Black Lives Matter and the politics of race, COVID and polarized views of COVID, interpersonal context (social connections), and individual context (feelings, beliefs, and behaviors). Study findings illustrate the intersectionality of contextual influences on the experience of low-income older adults. Study participants demonstrated remarkable resilience and coping strategies developed in response to the challenges they experienced throughout their lifetime which benefited them when faced with the pandemic, social unrest, and political events that took place in 2020. This study highlights the importance of understanding the larger context of COVID-19 which has significant implications for policy makers and public health leaders.
Background: Quality of life is an important concept of increasing significance for the healthcare in the United States, especially when taken in perspective of the aging population. Low-income, urban dwelling older adults are challenged in a number of ways that may negatively impact their QOL. This unique group is prone to report lower QOL, therefore, interventions targeted to improve QOL are timely. The purpose of this study was to describe the effect of mantram repetition (MR) on QOL in a sample of lowincome, urban dwelling older adults. Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-posttest study was conducted using a sample population of low-income older adults recruited from a community wellness center for older adults from September 15 th , 2017 to December 7th, 2017. Independent study variables included age, gender, monthly income, previous meditation experience, history of psychiatric illness, housing status and MR frequency. Dependent study variables included QOL domains scores derived from the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted using SPSS, version 24. Results: It was determined that there were no significant differences in demographic variables between participants who completed the study (n=36) and those who did not (n=36). Results from the statistical analysis indicated there was not a significant increase in QOL over the course of the 8-week intervention period. Only two of the independent variables, monthly income (r=-.39, p < .05) and history of psychiatric illness (F(1,32) 21.38 p = .034 (η 2 = .36) demonstrated a significant relationship with one of the dependent variables (Psychological QOL). Mantram repetition frequency did not contribute a significant amount of variance to post-intervention QOL domain scores. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the plausibility of implementing a MR program in a day center for low-income, urban dwelling older adults. While this study did not significantly demonstrate that MR improved QOL, the findings did suggest that participants exhibited some improvement in QOL. The results of this study have reported relevant findings that may inform differently designed MR interventional studies. Blank Page/Copyright I would also like to thank Dr. Mary Barger and Dr. Shelley Hawkins as my dissertation committee members. Their support, expertise, thoughtful insight and inspiration were key to the ongoing development and successful completion of my dissertation. It is my hope that I may contribute to the development of future nurse scientists as I was guided and supported by Drs. Mayo, Barger and Hawkins. Lastly, I would like to thank the older adult clients who participated in my study. Your lives inspired me to become a nurse scientist and to use the pursuit of scientific knowledge to help the world at large as well as those closest to me, who I hold so dear.
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