Center Coordinates Aging Research

Whether it’s helping the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients, assisting the rural elderly in obtaining mental-health care or making nursing home residents a bit more comfortable, researchers with UA’s Center for Mental Health and Aging are concentrating on meeting the needs of the nation’s growing elderly population.

The interdisciplinary center—comprised of researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Human Environmental Sciences, the School of Social Work, the Capstone College of Nursing, the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and the College of Community Health Sciences—is co-directed by Dr. Lucinda Roff, professor of social work, and Dr. Louis Burgio, professor of psychology.

University of Alabama researchers are involved in millions of dollars of federally funded research projects designed to assist, in a variety of ways, the elderly and those who care for them.

One example, PEARL, the Project to Enhance Aged Rural Living, funded by the National Institute on Aging, has UA researchers using cognitive behavior therapy, administered during brief, in-home visits with the rural elderly, to improve the mind frame and overall quality of life of the aging. By helping these people, some 90 percent of whom live in the Black Belt, to consider a different perspective on their lives, depression and stress can be reduced.

Another example is known as REACH II. Alabama is home to one of six sites nationwide participating in this multi-site clinical trial. The objective of this study is to refine and test a multi-component psychosocial behavioral intervention to reduce burden and depression among family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease or related disorders. The study is also examining possible differential effects of the intervention on Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic caregivers.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, often referred to by its acronym SAMHSA, awarded UA a $500,000 grant in the fall of 2002 to assist in the start-up of UA’s Center for Mental Health and Aging. SAMHSA is a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Also on campus, Dr. Jordan Kosberg, the endowed chairholder in the UA School of Social Work, is conducting a five-year study on the quality of care administered to older populations by family members, the likelihood of relinquishing the caregiving role, and the possibility of abuse and maltreatment of senior citizens. The study, done in conjunction with the University of Georgia, the University of Pittsburgh and the National Institute on Aging, focuses on the long-term consequences of caregiving to older populations in rural Alabama. Dr. Debra Nelson-Gardell, associate professor of social work, and Dr. Forrest Scogin, professor of psychology, are also involved in the study.

“This study will challenge the assumption that family care is always the best option for an older person,” Kosberg said. “We’re trying to show that in some cases, family caregiving may result in poor or abusive care and that institutional care may be the best place for an impaired, older individual.”