We encourage positive aging and aging in place through our research locally, regionally and globally.
Research Projects
Testing Savvy Caregiver in a Racially and Ethnically Diverse Sample in Southern California
The project goal is to compare the relative efficacy-effectiveness of two dementia caregiver interventions, Savvy Caregiver Express™ and Savvy Caregiver program on primary (affective status, and reactivity to behaviors), and secondary outcomes (competence, meaning, management, other coping resources, social support, etc.) with a diverse racial and ethnic sample of caregivers to persons with dementia (PWD).
You can learn more about this project at roybal.usc.edu/socalcaregiver.
Research Team
Research Period: 04/01/2020 - 06/30/2022
Funding Source: State of California Department of Public Health Alzheimer's Disease Program
Piloting the CAPABLE model in Permanent Supportive Housing
CAPABLE, which stands for Community Aging in Place Advancing Better Living for Elders, is an intervention that will be tested in permanent supportive housing as a model of support services that can address needs of prematurely aging tenants to address homelessness and support successful aging in place.
Research Team
Research Period: 2019 - 2020
USC Center for Homelessness, Housing & Health Equity Research Projects
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)
A Feasibility Study of an Intergenerational mHealth Program for Affordable Housing Communities
To fill these gaps in knowledge and better address the needs of homeless veterans, we propose a three-arm, multi-level systematic study to examine the effectiveness of outreach and housing services that target Los Angeles’ homeless veteran populations. We build on both RAND and USC’s strengths of implementing mixed method studies that gather in-depth information from Veterans and other key stakeholders, including the VA, community based organizations (e.g., Volunteers of America), and advocacy groups to provide a comprehensive and balanced approach to help solve one of the most complex issues facing Los Angeles today
Research Team
Research Period: 2019 - 2020
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck Schol of Social Work
Advocates for African American Elders (AAAE)
Advocates for African American Elders (AAAE) is an outreach and engagement partnership of academic, governmental, nonprofit, and community groups whose aim is to help African American seniors in Los Angeles advocate for their health and mental health needs. As well as catalyzing general advocacy efforts to improve the delivery of health services for African American communities in Los Angeles County, AAAE seeks to strengthen collaboration between agencies and community organizations, develop training programs and mental health interventions specifically tailored for African American seniors, and increase health literacy.
Research Team
Research Period: Ongoing
Co-Designing a Mobile App with Chinese Immigrant Caregivers for Self-Management of Their Health
The proposed pilot study aims to employ a user participatory approach to develop a mobile application (app) that is engaging, high quality, and safe to use as a surrogate for the in-person Caregiver Self-Management Program (CSMP), an existing intervention for Chinese caregivers. The CSMP intervention aims to equip Chinese caregivers with self-management knowledge and skills, to increase their self-efficacy for caregiving and self-care, to enhance their physical and mental well-being, and to decrease their caregiving burden.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/1/2018 – 6/30/2019
Funding Source: USC Undergraduate Research Associates Program (URAP)
Fitting Local EMS Response to Multi-Need Older Adults Through a Community-Engaged Process
The pilot study will determine what information is needed for a subsequent translational research project that can assist the Los Angeles Fire Department in transforming its EMS services to optimize quality of care received by one million annual service requesters and reduce misuse of urgent care services. The LAFD seeks to coordinate and integrate their services more effectively into the existing web-work of community health and social services providers within service areas. Today only 1% of LAFD EMS calls are associated with fire suppression. EMS has become a preeminent front-line medical provider by default in communities with disparities in access to medical care in Los Angeles. There is a high priority requirement to optimize triage for patients with a wide range of presenting conditions, especially in higher demand are those over age 50. This study will examine one specific LAFD service region, Battalion 13, in South Los Angeles, an area with one of the highest EMS request rates and lowest availability of health providers to identify targets for innovative linkage to services providers and novel interventions.
Research Team
Research Period: 2/1/2017–12/31/2018
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)
Translating Caregiver Self-Management Research for Chinese Immigrant Community Use through Participatory Co-Design App Development
The proposed pilot study will employ a user participatory approach to design, prototype, and pilot-test a CSMP mobile app to meet the needs of Chinese immigrant caregivers. The app is expected to include five core functions to engage caregivers in self -care: building CSMP-based skills, tracking self-management behaviors, summarizing health information, coaching for problem solving, and enabling communication for support and sharing.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/1/2018 – 6/30/2019
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI); Grant ID: 12-5176-3304
Asian Caregiver Training (ACT)
This project aims to develop a train-the-trainer program to improve caregivers’ competence and improve their well-being. The project will pilot online training materials in four languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Tagalog) and develop a caregiver training manual using a culturally and linguistically sensitive approach.
Research Team
Helping Carers to Care (HC2C)
Developed with Peking University’s Institute of Mental Health, the initiative facilitates the development, implementation and evaluation of training models in Beijing for caregivers of individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Research Team
Research Period: Ongoing
Understanding Disparities in Palliative and Hospice Care among Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations: A Systematic Review
The purpose of this proposed study is to conduct a systematic review that provides a comprehensive overview of the best available evidence on the determinants of disparities in palliative and hospice care among racial and ethnic minority populations. Four aims of the proposed systematic review are: 1) to assess racial and ethnic disparities in palliative and hospice care, 2) to identify contributing factors associated with racial and ethnic disparities in palliative and hospice care, 3) to synthesize similarities and differences in the factors across racial and ethnic groups, and 4) to explore whether cultural factors have been appropriately considered and measured in palliative and hospice care research. Findings of the study will inform areas for intervention and provide a foundation for research, intervention planning, and policy development to promote palliative and hospice care as a vital part of the continuum of healthcare for racial and ethnic minority populations.
Research Team
Research Period: 12/1/2018 - 6/30/2019
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work: Department of Adult Mental Health and Wellness
Healthy Aging Los Angeles County Initiative
A collaborative effort of researchers from UCLA, the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, the City of Los Angeles Department on Aging, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, California State University, Los Angeles along with community leaders and interventionists to support sustainable change in communities that will allow middle-aged and older adults to stay healthy and live independently and safely with timely and appropriate access to quality health care, social support, and services.
Partners: Arleen Brown, MD; Jonathan Fielding, MD; Tony Kuo, MD; Martin Shapiro, MD; June Simmons, MSW; Laura Trejo, MSG
Research Period: Ongoing
Conference Series on Aging in the Americas: United States and Mexico
The USC Roybal Institute received a sub-award from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, which received a (R13) Scientific Meeting Grant from NIA, to host the fifth installment of its conference series at USC. The aim of the Conference Series on Aging in the Americas is to use research to augment knowledge about dimensions of healthful aging for people of Hispanic descent in the United States and Mexico. One of the major goals is to promote interdisciplinary collaboration by gathering a broad array of researchers in the fields of health, health care policy, and behavioral and social aspects of aging into a single forum to exchange ideas and foster collaborative efforts aimed at addressing key issues affecting the health of aging Hispanics.
Research Team
Programa Esperanza (Project Hope)
The primary aim of the study is to test the comparative effectiveness of Programa Esperanza (Project Hope) and enhanced usual care (EUC). Programa Esperanza is a short-term, culturally modified psychosocial intervention for Spanish-speaking Latino patients 55 years of age or older with depression and multiple medical conditions. Our long-term goal is to widely disseminate the results and actionable steps needed to increase the adoption and sustainability of evidence-based behavioral health practices for low-income, Limited-English-speaking geriatric populations.
Research Team
Research Period: 1/1/2015–06/30/2019
Funding Source: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
Trial to Examine Text Message-based mHealth in Emergency Department Patients with Diabetes with Family and Friends Network Supporters (TexT-MED+FANS)
This K23 award will support Dr. Burner to develop a research agenda examining novel communication technologies to improving patient self-management of diabetes. Dr. Wu, along with a faculty mentoring team, will support Dr. Burner to (1) become an expert in mixed-methods research strategies; (2) conduct clinical investigations of a mobile phone based behavioral intervention for urban Latino patients with diabetes that incorporates an augmented social module; and (3) conduct sophisticated statistical analysis to examine patient characteristics that impact the intervention’s efficacy.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/16/2016–9/30/2020
Funding Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), NIH
Unidas Por la Vida: A Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for High-Risk Latina Dyads
Mexican American women have significantly elevated rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The proposed study tests a novel intervention that capitalizes on an existing important family dyad (mothers and their adult daughters) to foster clinically significant and long-lasting health behavior change. If found to effective, this intervention strategy has great potential to address health disparities in this, and other, at-risk populations.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/15/2014 - 8/13/2019
Funding Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Los Angeles Stroke Prevention/Intervention Research Program in Health Disparities
This program is a multi-partner research center that will conduct two randomized, controlled, community-based trials of stroke-prevention interventions. The research for this subaward project will design a mobile health technology application and an evaluation to measure perceptions of usefulness, ease of use, and willingness to adopt the mobile health technology from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. This research will support one of the center’s aims, which is to create and test sustainable interventions to redress racial/ethnic disparities in the occurrence of stroke.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/30/2012 – 8/31/2018
Funding Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Caregiver Self-Management Program (CSMP)
The CSMP aims to equip Chinese caregivers with self-management knowledge and skills, increase self-efficacy for caregiving and self-care, enhance physical and mental well-being, and decrease caregiving burden. The program will address language and culture gaps in current caregiver self-management interventions in the U.S.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/1/2017 – 6/30/2018
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Research Council
Caregiving to Diverse Families in Los Angeles County
Family caregivers account for about 70-80 percent of all caregiving to older persons with disabilities in the United States. Informal care to older adults is an important scientific area given the dramatic aging trends in the U.S. and the increase in life expectancy of persons living with disabilities through old age.
Los Angeles County is home to upwards of 30,000 informal caregivers of older adults—one of the largest group of caregivers in the nation. Today, almost 30% of Los Angeles County is Latino, and 73% speak English less than “very well.” Several Los Angeles County-based non-profit organizations are funded to provide services to this target population in the form of information and referral, caregiver intervention programs, and/or respite care.
The research team will test a pilot psychosocial intervention aimed at increasing family caregiver physical and psychological well-being. Based on the intervention, the team will pilot the intervention with English- and Spanish-speaking family caregivers in Los Angeles County.
Research Team
Research Period: 4/1/2016–3/31/2018
Funding Source: California Community Foundation
Co-Designing a Mobile App with Chinese Immigrant Caregivers for Self-Management of Their Health
The proposed pilot study aims to employ a user participatory approach to develop a mobile application (app) that is engaging, high quality, and safe to use as a surrogate for the in-person Caregiver Self-Management Program (CSMP), an existing intervention for Chinese caregivers. The CSMP intervention aims to equip Chinese caregivers with self-management knowledge and skills, to increase their self-efficacy for caregiving and self-care, to enhance their physical and mental well-being, and to decrease their caregiving burden.
Research Team
Research Period: 2/1/2018 – 6/30/2018
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work: Department of Adult Mental Health and Wellness
EAGER: Studying the Dynamics of In-Home Adoption of Socially Assistive Robot Companions for the Elderly
Project description is forthcoming.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/1/2015–8/31/2017
Funding Source: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Intergenerational Mobile Technology Opportunities Program in Taiwan
To understand the potential of mobile computing technology to improve quality of life and health outcomes of older adults with disabilities, an intervention is needed to motivate and train seniors to use the technology. Thus, this proposed 3-year demonstration and research project aims to develop, test, and evaluate an innovative program, Intergenerational Mobile Technology Opportunities Program (IMTOP), to help older adults with disabilities use mobile devices by interacting with younger-generation trainers, which has the potential to improve the quality of life for both groups. IMTOP aims to provide mobile technology training, access, and support to adults (aged 50 and above) with disabilities in Taiwan for their self-care and self-help to improve their quality of life. The program will help participants acquire skills to use the Internet, World Wide Web (WWW), applications (or “apps”), and basic computing via mobile tablet devices. These skills will give participants access to resources and tools to promote good health and prevent disease, manage personal finances and daily activities, reduce social isolation, and increase social engagement, as well as meet their individual life goals.
Research Team
A Pilot Test of Short Message Service (SMS) to Assess Depressive Symptoms and Functional Disability in Low Income, Racially/Ethnically Diverse Safety Net Patient with Diabetes
The proposed study will pilot-test using SMS to assess depressive symptoms by the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in low-income, racially/ethnically diverse safety net patients with diabetes. In addition, the study will pilot-test SMS assessment for functional disability using the 3-item Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS).
Research Team
Research Period: 2/11/2017 - 7/31/2017
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Research Council
The Los Angeles Healthy Aging Indicator Project
The project will develop multiple population health metric tools (Community Metrics) and a community dissemination-engagement component corresponding to the community assessment and intervention-research functions of the Healthy Aging Los Angeles County initiative.
Research Team
Research Period: July 2014 - June 2016
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)
Global Research Network on Aging and Health (GRANH)
GRNAH promotes the use of comparative bi-national and international research for developing scientifically validated public health and patient care interventions especially for people living in low resource communities. The Network’s investigators are situated in major research institutes and universities representing multiple disciplines. The founding institutions are the Instituto Nacional de Geriatría (Institutos Nacionales de Salud de México) and the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging (USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work).
Research Team
Research Period: 2012 - 2017
2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count
In coordination with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the research team will conduct the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, a demographic survey of homeless adults, youth, and families, as required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Research Team
Research Period: 9/1/2016–9/1/2017
Funding Source: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
Traditional Healing Practices of Ethnic Elders: Exploratory field studies among ten Ethnic Enclaves of Los Angeles
Six MSW students assisted Dr. Nair in compiling a database of elderly traditional healers among ten ethnic enclaves of Los Angeles. The next phase of the field study will involve collecting information about different types of healing methods that elders practice.
Research Team
Research Period: Summer 2016
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Behavior: Health and Society Research Cluster
Economic Impact of Alzheimer's in the Latino Community
Latinos are 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s (AD) and other dementia compared to non-Hispanic Whites with similar characteristics. The study will estimate the direct and indirect costs associated with AD for all Latinos in the U.S. using the Medical Expenditure Panel survey (MEPS). The costs for the Medicare population in specific will estimated using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). Estimated costs will be combined with projected Hispanic population census data to project the costs of AD for Hispanic/Latinos up to 2050. The study will include a preparation of a report that addresses the following themes: impact of the growth of AD on health care costs; impact of the growth of AD on labor force productivity; impact of the growth AD on the need for formal and informal intermittent and long-term care; and the costs of AD on Latinos.
Research Team
Research Period: 6/25/2015 - 10/1/2015
Funding Source: UsAgainstAlzheimer's
A Helping Hand to Activate Patient-Centered Depression Care among Low-Income Patients (AHH)
The study aims to improve patient self-care management and patient-provider care management relationships among underserved low-income patients, who must simultaneously cope with major depression and chronic co-morbid physical illness. Some participants will be randomly selected to receive typical clinical services, while others will participate in a program in which community members, who are trained to provide basic health education, offer training and advice. Findings will determine whether community health worker promotora care management training improves patient-centered outcomes, such as self-care need and management, treatment adherence, symptom improvement, and care satisfaction over the usual team care.
Research Team
Research Period: 10/2013 – 12/2017
Funding Source: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
A Program for Families Caring for a Loved One with Dementia (SAVVY Caregiver Program)
This is a comparative cluster-randomized pilot to compare the relative feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of implementing the original and modified version of the Savvy Caregiver Program (SCP) in community-based settings. SCP is a structured, group-administered intervention for adult family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease or associated dementias.
Research Team
Research Period: 12/2015 – 6/2016
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Research Council
Enhanced Geriatric Depression Treatment in Adult Day Health Care
The major goal of the project was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of adding individually administered Problem Solving Therapy (PST) to enhanced usual care as an approach for treating depression in adult day health care (ADHC) for predominantly low-income Latinos with depression and significant comorbid medical illnesses.
Research Team
Research Period: 3/2009 - 12/2011
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Testing of a Frailty Diagnostic Measure for Low-Income, Medically Ill Older Adults with Depression
Little is known about the frailty syndrome and its relationship to clinical depression in older minorities. The study aimed to develop and test a frailty measure for its predictive ability in determining clinical depression and severity.
Research Team
Research Period: 11/2010 - 3/2011
Funding Source: Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Grant ID: 1UL1RR031986
Mental Health Disparities within the Context of Health Disparities: Depression and Obesity among Black Women
The project aimed to investigate mental health disparities within the context of health disparities. Specifically, it used data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES) to examine the relationship between obesity and depression among black women.
Research Team
Research Period: 11/2010 - 3/2011
Funding Source: Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Toward a Better Understanding of Elder Mistreatment in Community Settings
The purpose of the study was to inform the NIA about the issues involved with conducting a national incidence or prevalence study of elder mistreatment. The study focused on community-residing elders to examine approaches to detecting and measuring mistreatment across five domains: physical assault, psychological aggression, sexual coercion, caregiver neglect and financial exploitation. The ultimate goal was to inform the field on reliable approaches to identifying elder mistreatment.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/2007 - 8/2009
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging (NIA); Grant ID: R21 AG030661
Live Well, Live Long: Steps to Better Health
The ASA and the USC Roybal Institute entered into a collaborative agreement with the CDC to develop a model Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) national campaign. The ultimate goal of the project was to provide guidance and tools for the staff of organizations that provided services to older adults. The tools were designed to facilitate outreach efforts, the dissemination of information, the delivery of service and the training of staff. The tools also were designed to provide a better understanding of the changing health and social service needs of an aging and more diverse population. Special emphasis was given to developing strategies targeting racial and ethnic communities and rural areas.
Research Team
Research Period: Completed
Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)