Competencies and appreciation of the aging process across the lifespan from all cultures.
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
Navigating Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Care and Services in Linguistic Isolation
The project aims to explore the direct and interactive roles of social connectedness and neighborhood characteristics (1) in the relation between limited english proficiency and health and (2) in the relation between limited english proficiency and healthcare.
Research Team
Research Period: 06/15/2019 - 04/30/2021
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging
Interdisciplinary Aging Research to Address Health Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
This conference series will (1) address environmental, sociocultural, behavioral, and biological disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias that affect millions of older minorities and their family caregivers; and (2) serve as an incubator of scientific network of interdisciplinary scholars specializing in rigorous team- based approaches to close the ADRD health disparities gap.
Research Team
Research Period: 04/01/2019 - 03/31/2021
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging
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
Asian American Resource Database (AARD) in the Los Angeles County: A Pilot Study of Chinese and Korean Communities
The project will develop an AARD that includes health and social services for the Chinese and Korean communities in Los Angeles County. Outcomes from the project will offer a database for practical use by community members, as well as for networks of researchers and practitioners through which to better reach out to and serve these communities.
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
Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC-CTSI)
The Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) is a multi-faceted research institute created by the University of Southern California (USC) and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) to translate scientific discoveries into solutions for better health. This core group engages a broad spectrum of communities across the continuum of clinical and translational research, with particular emphasis on diverse and underserved communities, including pediatrics. The group helps researchers understand the health needs and research barriers of special populations and then facilitates academic-community partnerships to ensure patient/community engagement in all stages of clinical and translational research. CE also evaluates and disseminates novel approaches for engaging diverse populations in clinical and translational research and eliminating barriers to research participation.
Research Team
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
A Catalyst Drug or a Cessation Tool? E-Cigarette use among Korean American Young Adults
The proposed pilot study aims to understand unique aspects of progression to and desistence from problematic e-cig use among Korean American young adults (KAYA) and the role of racial discrimination in e-cig use. Given that the existing measure of discrimination (Everyday Discrimination Scale) has been widely used in diverse populations but not validated with KAYAs, the adequacy of the scale will also be part of assessment. We will conduct four focus groups with KAYA aged 18 to 24 in community settings in Los Angeles, consisting of 6 to 8 members each. We will seek a purposive sample of smokers and nonsmokers and use a snowball approach for recruitment. Results may suggest a shift in the field to a culturally relevant prevention strategy that accounts for subgroup differences in ethnic minority groups with diverse backgrounds, such as Asian Americans.
Research Team
Research Period: 12/1/2018 - 6/30/2019
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work: Department of Children, Youth and Families
Enduring Connections of Family: Implications of Drug Use on Family Systems
Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage is well known, but rarely considered in studies of people who inject drugs (PWID). Further, while downward transmission of disadvantage (from parents to children) has been examined extensively, the impact of disadvantage within sibling groups or upward (to aging parents) has been inadequately addressed. Aging parents may be particularly vulnerable to drug using children who may have remained in closer contact to parents as compared to other siblings. Further, their proximity may not be entirely negative; caregiving of domiciled elders may be more easily accomplished for aging PWID who have failed to establish other legal means of support.
Latino families and communities have long been regarded as especially close, with families retaining close connections to members despite mental health issues, repeated incarceration, and drug abuse. In the following, we propose to explore family relations and connections among middle aged (40 to 60 years old) Hispanic PWID in Los Angeles. The goal will be to describe how these long-term drug users connect with families and to consider positive and negative consequences of these enduring connections.
Research Team
Research Period: 2016 - 12/2018
Funding Source: USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging
Healthcare Stereotype Threat (HCST), Health Disparities, and Minority Aging
The first of its kind, the research will investigate the research questions of whether and how HCST contributes to disparities in healthcare resource use and health in aging African Americans and Latinos as compared to Whites. The research is to provide a new understanding of later life health disparities by examining a previously overlooked psychosocial barrier to care among aging minorities, namely HCST and how it can be ameliorated.
Research Team
Research Period: 8/15/2017-3/31/2022
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging: K01 - Mentored Research Scientist Development Award
Limited English Proficiency, Health and Healthcare among Older Immigrants
Limited English proficiency (LEP) is a unique vulnerability of older immigrants that poses a significant risk to health and healthcare. Given that social and environmental contexts play a critical role in the lives of persons with LEP, this project investigates how social connectedness and neighborhood/community characteristics (e.g., ethnic density, health service environments in the neighborhood) influence the link between LEP and health/healthcare. The interactive roles of social connectedness and neighborhood characteristics will be explored by using an innovative and synergistic mix of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Research Team
Research Period: 5/15/2015-4/30/2020
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging
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
Religious Transitions, Transmissions, and Trajectories among Baby-Boomers and Their Families
This three-year multi-method research project is devoted to better understanding how religious beliefs, identities, and participation develop over the course of later life. Researchers will collect quantitative and qualitative data from an established longitudinal sample to examine previously unaddressed questions about how religiosity changes for aging Baby-Boomers, the implications of religious change for health and well-being, and whether the capacity to transmit religious orientations to children has become compromised by changing family structures.
Research Team
Research Period: 1/1/2015–1/31/2018
Funding Source: The John Templeton Foundation
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
Social Relationships and Depressive Symptom Types among Older African Americans
The pilot project will examine depressive symptom typologies/subtypes (i.e., distinct patterns or clusters of depressive symptoms) among older African Americans. A primary aim of this research is to use latent class analysis (LCA) to identify typologies of depressive symptoms as an innovative means of capturing the heterogeneity of depressive symptoms in a national probability sample of older African Americans. A second aim of this project is to identify functional and structural features of church-based (congregational) and extended family relationships that act as risk and protective factors for being identified with particular depressive symptom types. This research project focuses on providing a better understanding of both mental disease (depressive symptom profiles), as well as the social contexts and resources that individuals inhabit.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/2016 - 6/2017
Funding Source: USC Minority Aging Health Economics Research Center (USC RCMAR)
Development of An Instrument to Assess Mental Demands at Work
The study develops a standardized instrument to assess different types of mental demands at work that are relevant with respect to cognitive functioning in old age and dementia risk.
Research Team
Research Period: 2017
Funding Source: German Research Foundation (DFG)
BrainWorks: A Comparative Effectiveness Trial to Examine Text Message-Based Alzheimer's Disease Education for Community-Dwelling African Americans
The purpose of the proposed randomized comparative effectiveness trial is to compare the effectiveness of different approaches to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) education on AD knowledge and research attitudes. We will randomize 150 community-dwelling African American adults (ages 60-85) to either an AD outreach and education program with text messages tailored to African Americans (tailored texts), text messages that the general population would receive (general texts), or a control group. The primary outcome will be change in knowledge about AD and research attitudes over 6 months. Our long-term objective is to increase African American participation in AD prevention research.
Research Team
Research Period: 2/1/2017-3/31/2018
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)
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)
Translation and Validation Study of QODD Chinese Version
The proposed study will translate the Quality of Death and Dying Scale into traditional/simplified and Mandarin/Cantonese versions and validate its validity and reliability.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/1/2018 - 6/30/2019
Funding Source: Shanghai Lixin Accounting and Finance College, Distinguished Faculty Research Grant
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
Toward Integrated Care of Oral Health and Diabetes: A Pilot with Older Korean Adults
Diabetes poses a critical risk to oral health. However, many individuals with diabetes and their caregivers are unaware of diabetes-related susceptibility to oral complications, and oral health is often unaddressed in the diabetes care regimen. The proposed study aims to explore oral health and dental care-related experiences and needs via qualitative interviews with various stakeholders: 10 older Korean Americans with diabetes, 10 caregivers of older Korean Americans with diabetes, and 10 health care providers (5 from primary care and 5 from dentistry) who serve in the Korean American community in the Los Angeles area. Tentative topics for qualitative assessment include general issues in oral health and diabetes care, knowledge of diabetes and oral health, challenges in seeking/assisting/providing dental care, and the role of family and community in healthcare utilization. The proposed pilot study will plant a seed for an R21 or R01 grant for the NIDCR that prioritizes “understanding the determinants of inequalities in oral health status and quality” and “integrating oral health in comprehensive health care.”
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
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
Reducing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis Through Community Education
The overall objective of the study is to strengthen the effectiveness of informational campaigns to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis by bringing more scientific rigor to their development and by extending their reach through sustainable campaigns for diverse, high-risk communities. Spanish-speaking adolescents and adults (ages 15-64) residing in a high density Latino community within Los Angeles County will serve as the target group.
Research Team
Research Period: 6/1/2014–12/31/2017
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
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
Assess the Interest and Recruit Community Partners for the Purpose of Designing an Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative for a R01 Study
The networking activity is designed to introduce and disseminate the preliminary results of the Intergeneration Mobile Technology Opportunity Program (IMTOP) in Taiwan study to local community-based organizations serving a large Chinese population. The study would adapt and study the IMTOP project in the Chinese immigrant population in the U.S.
Research Team
Research Period: 1/2017 – 6/2017
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Research Council
Harmonizing U.S. Datasets to Enhance the Study of Cognitive Health in Older Minority Populations
The purpose of the pilot is to investigate the feasibility of harmonizing several epidemiological datasets that include Latinos and African Americans, usually in small proportions, that when combined, will permit the analysis of cognitive health and associated factors among these minority populations.
Research Team
Research Period: 3/1/2017 - 6/30/2017
Funding Source: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Research Council
Life Course Energy Balance and Breast Cancer Risk in Black/White Women under 50
The objectives of this study are to investigate, in a socioeconomically diverse population of Black and White women, whether life course (in utero/perinatal, childhood, adolescent, and adult) energy balance factors, or polymorphic variation in candidate genes in energy balance pathways, are associated with breast cancer risk overall and by tumor subtype.
Research Team
Research Period: 8/2010 – 7/2015
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute
USC Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)
The goal of the USC RCMAR is to build an infrastructure to support high-quality research and enduring research careers in the economics of aging, retirement, and health economic challenges, with a particular focus on health and economic challenges of elderly minority populations. It is a collaboration between USC and RAND that utilizes the resources of the USC Roybal Center on Health Policy Simulation, the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and RAND’s Roybal Center for Financial Decisionmaking.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/2012 – 6/2015
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging (NIA); Grant ID: P30AG12-012
Testing Correspondence of Health Environment Indicator to Health Outcomes in Older Population Groups
The study will use a combination of official statistical sources, including the US decennial census and American Community Survey, in conjunction with recent epidemiological survey data from several studies covering Los Angeles County to scientifically test consistency relationships between community markers and health outcomes measured at the individual level. The anticipated results would provide an evidence base to recommend measures to best predict population health among old-age community residents, and promote the measures associated most closely with health outcomes in population subgroups defined by age group, race/ethnicity, nativity, primary language, and socioeconomic level. Such findings would more confidently inform epidemiological studies as well as future needs assessment and “healthy community” monitoring.
Research Team
Research Period: 10/2013 - 6/2014
Funding Source: National Institute on Aging (NIA); Grant ID: 5P30AG017265-14 (USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health Subaward)
Culture, Neuroscience and the Course of Psychosis
The main objective of the project is to bring together sociocultural and neuroscience researchers to launch an innovative research and research training program in the study of psychosis and psychotic disorders. A major goal will be to carry out a research and research training program that integrates both sociocultural and neuroscience perspectives within the study of the course of psychosis among Mexican-origin persons.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/2010 - 6/2013
Funding Source: Foundation for Psychocultural Research
An Examination of Treatment-Relevant Patient Characteristics in the USC ADRC Data Set
The objective of the project is to examine ethnic differences in dementia progression from early states of mild cognitive impairment, measure invariance, and co-morbidity patterns among Mexican Americans and White non-Latino patients and controls in the California ADRC Uniform Data Set (UDS).
Research Team
Research Period: 4/2012 - 3/2013
Funding Source: USC Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC); Grant ID: P50 AG05142
Risk and Protective Factors for Depression among Racial Groups
The study aimed to investigate the social and psychological risk and protective factors for depression among African American, Caribbean Black, Asian American, Latino and non-Hispanic white adults using existing national epidemiological data. The goal of the research was to identify those factors that would enhance current interventions, as well as provide information relevant to the development of new and innovative research-based interventions that met the mental health needs of diverse populations.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/2009 - 6/2012
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Bringing Evidence-Based Programs to Historically Underrepresented Older Minorities
This pilot project will produce an exhaustive inventory of MH/SU EBIs within existing LA County health and human services (HHS) provider systems. We will use a two-pronged approach that addresses the community needs with respect to MH/SU issues on the one hand, and the capacity of HHS provider systems to serve historically underrepresented older minorities—who typically bear excess burden of MH/SU conditions—on the other. Selected data produced by this study will be used in Dr. Vega’s proposed CTSI simulation modeling pilot (“metrics pilot study”) and will serve as the basis for future research applications.
Research Team
Research Period: January 2015–December 2017
Funding Source: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI); Grant ID: 5UL1TR000130
Transition Coaching for Latino Diabetics
The project sought to develop a program aimed at improving self-management behaviors and skills for hospitalized Latino diabetics age 50 and over who were leaving the hospital for home. To date, no programs of this type has focused specifically on this group of diabetics. Participants in the program received help from a diabetes-trained coach who was also Latino and bilingual. The project sought to improve treatment of diabetes, specifically aiming at improving adherence to care, continuity of care and patient self-management skills.
Research Team
Research Period: 1/2009 - 12/2011
Funding Source: American Diabetes Association
National Network on Multicultural Research on Health and Health Care to Eliminate Health and Healthcare Disparities
This project brought together a team of 12 multidisciplinary senior faculty researchers to investigate disparities in medical care provided to minority subpopulations for chronic diseases and to mentor junior faculty investigators to develop a new generation of researchers with the skills needed to reduce disparities through improved health care.
Research Team
Research Period: 11/2007 - 6/2011
Funding Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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
Ethnicity and the Diagnosis of Affective Illness
In an effort to better understand diagnostic disparities (i.e., the overdiagnosis of psychosis in African Americans), the study examined how patient characteristics (i.e., ethnicity) influence the diagnostic process in patients with serious mental illness. The primary objective was to test the hypothesis that clinicians over-emphasize psychotic symptoms at the expense of affective symptoms in African Americans.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/2005 - 6/2010
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health; Grant ID: R01 MH068819
Community-Based Management of the Chronically Mentally Ill
The primary objective of the center grant was to create a sustainable community-based participatory research program for African Americans with depression residing in South Los Angeles, with the ultimate objective of improving the quality of their lives and reducing relapse through improved community based integration of services with natural networks and other community support systems.
Research Team
Research Period: 9/2008 - 6/2010
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health
Stigma of Depression among Hispanic Primary Care Patients
The major focus of the project was to develop a stigma measure for depressed Latinos and test the effects of stigma on the course of depression treatment, medication adherence, and treatment outcome, in a longitudinal study of primary care patients.
Research Team
Research Period: 2007 - 2010
Funding Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Medline Plus En Español: Reaching and Empowering the Latino Community
The primary goal of the project was to evaluate the appropriateness and usefulness of the content of MedlinePlus (En Español) among the Latino population in the greater East Los Angeles Area. A secondary goal was to assess the awareness and extent to which the MedlinePlus (En Español) website was utilized by physicians serving populations that were primarily Latino. To achieve those goals, a series of focus groups was convened, which included various groups within the Latino population as well as physicians and other healthcare providers.
Research Team
Research Period: 7/2006 - 6/2007
Funding Source: National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Breast Cancer Media & Training Campaign for Hispanic Women
The purpose of the project was to educate Latino women on the importance of breast cancer screenings through a national media campaign that targeted more than 83 Spanish-language television stations across the United States.
Research Team
Research Period: Completed
Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/AARP
Adult Immunization Program
The USC Roybal Institute was approached by The California Endowment to conduct a comparative study to evaluate the current status of the immunization level of Latinos in the greater East Los Angeles area. The study was designed to compare newly collected data with the findings from an earlier dataset to determine whether there were changes in immunization levels over time and to determine potential barriers to immunization services. Another important aspect of the project was to develop and implement intervention strategies in the East Los Angeles area as well as an immunization coordination plan for Los Angeles County.
Research Team
Research Period: Completed
Funding Source: The California Endowment