Aging and Disability
Aging and Disability research at the IOG aims to improve quality of life for people with physical and cognitive impairments.
Current research project:
Community Living After Spinal Cord Injury: Models and Outcomes – web site
PI: Lysack, C.
Co-PI : Luborsky, M.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research
2003-2007, $1,089,578
The goal of this study is to extend basic knowledge of longer term spinal cord injury outcomes by evaluating competing social-ecological hypotheses about community (both desired forms of community and modes of valued participation) by comparing adult Caucasian and African Americans with spinal cord injury (n=160) across a range of age of onset and duration beyond 5 years post injury. The main emphasis in this study is on evaluating the relative importance of spatial/geographical versus social/ecological elements of theories of community formation. This study also emphasizes the full developmental spectrum of adults with SCI, thus illuminating how persons participate in the full spectrum of social roles and normative communities across six decades of the human lifespan.
Hip Fracture: Cultural Loss and Long-term Reintegration
PI: Luborksy, M.
Co-PI : Lysack, C.
NIH / National Institute on Aging (NIA)
2006-2010, $1,079,750
Today, the proven medical treatment for hip fracture’s physical breaks are not equaled by knowledge of how survivors seek to heal the fractured connection to valued communities and cultural identities after injury. The need is great: only 34% of the 31,000 annual hip fracture patients regain full mobility and function; mortality nears 50% after one year. The return to a valued life with physical disability is neglected in a literature dominated by studies of the acute injury phase. The goal of this study is to identify the social consequences of hip fracture and to evaluate the forms and meanings of community engagement and identifies perceived as meaningful after hip fracture. The study will select 144 adult men and women in the Detroit area with hip fracture in two main groups, newly injured and long-term, to explore the nature of social integration after injury. The study addresses a high NIH, public and scientific priority to identify the community conditions that predict long-term success at community life after disability.
Occupational Therapy Training to Improve Mental Health Services
PIs: Lichtenberg, P. & Lysack, C.
Retirement Research Foundation
2005-2007 $264,000
Bringing together a team of occupational therapists, psychologists, pharmacists and physical therapistsThis project created a set of 6 one hour DVD based training modules. The modules include actual patient-practitioner interactions; assessments and interventions. The efficacy of the modules is being evaluated across 30 Occupational Therapists in home, outpatient and nursing home settings.