Projects
Social Reintegration of Service Members and Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury
Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR)
Southeast Michigan Partners Against Cancer (SEMPAC)
Seniors Count!
Lifespan Investigation of Family, Health and Environment (LIFHE)
Developing a Meaningful Life: Social Reintegration of Service Members & Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury
Co–PI’s Dr's. Mark Luborsky & Cathy Lysack
Funder: Department of Defense
A 3-year, dual-site grant of $456,000 from the Department of Defense to study the social reintegration of American service members and veterans who suffered spinal cord injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR)
Co-PI's: Jackson, J.S., & Lichtenberg, P.A.
NIH/National Institute on Aging (P30), 1997-2012 $8.9 million
The Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) promotes health research on minority elders, particularly African American elders, that will lead to the reduction and elimination of health disparities as called for in Healthy People 2010 through several approaches consistent with the NIA’s 2005-2010 Strategic Plan. Exemplars of MCUAAAR’s efforts include a successful mentoring program focused on building a network of minority investigators who are committed to becoming productive scholars in the area of health and aging. Health promotion and the reduction and elimination of health disparities is only possible with the effective recruitment and retention of African American and other minority elders in health research. We will continue to build upon our productive research program in this area, and continue to reach out to seniors in the city of Detroit with the explicit purpose of building upon our developed databases of research participants. This volunteer participant pool is comprised of individuals who have agreed to be contacted to engage in health-related studies that have significance for their communities.
MCUAAAR is one of six center grants on Minority Aging Research funded by the NIA. Our particular center is a joint effort between Wayne State University and the University of Michigan and includes several departments and colleges from both institutions. To date, 30 pilot investigation studies have been completed. The center sponsors a summer conference each year to further educate junior faculty in the research process, research methods, and grant writing.
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Southeast Michigan Partners Against Cancer (SEMPAC)
PI: T. Albrecht, Karmanos Cancer Center & Head of Investigator Training Core: P.A. Lichtenberg
National Cancer Institute, 2010-2015 $4, 096, 000
This $4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute renews the original Detroit Community Network Program (CNP) for an additional five years. The goal of SEMPAC is to reduce cancer rates among Detroit's older, African American population by scholar training and networking with community organizations.
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Seniors Count!
PI: Dr. Thomas B. Jankowski in collaboration with Adult Well Being Services of Detroit
A two-year grant of $275,000 to gather, integrate and publish a compilation of the available demographic, economic, health and social data on older adults in Southeast Michigan. An additional research enhancement award of $25,000 was given to the project by the American House Foundation.
Visit Seniors Count!, Dr. Jankowski's demographics resource site and blog devoted to Southeast Michigan's growing aging population
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Lifespan Investigation of Family, Health and Environment (LIFHE)
A Lifespan Alliance Collaboration between Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute and Institute of Gerontology
The LIFHE Core Administrative Team includes:
Peter Lichtenberg, PhD, Director of IOG/MPSI; John Hannigan, PhD, Deputy Director, MPSI, Cathy Lysack, PhD, Deputy Director, IOG; Marc Kruman, PhD, Director, Center for the Study of Citizenship & Chair of History, Lisa Ficker, MA, LIFHE Project Director; Virginia Delaney-Black, MD, Associate Director, Children’s Research Center of Michigan; Bonnie Stanton, MD, Chair of Pediatrics; Teri Albrecht, PhD, Karmanos Cancer Institute
The LIFHE team interviewed 501 African Americans age 55 to 97 to understand senior activities, family relationships, attitudes, finances and health. Dr. Stewart Neufeld, a professor of mathematics and social science, oversaw questions related to finances, and Dr. Lysack contributed questions about mobility, home and environment. “Our survey was like taking a ‘snapshot’ of information about people’s lives to better understand their challenges and resources,” Dr. Ficker, LIFHE project director, says.
In urban areas, an estimated 9% of grandparents co-reside with their grandchildren but little research has been done on the quality of these relationships. Almost 80% of LIFHE interviewees had grandchildren and 77 of them lived in the same household with a grandchild or great-grandchild. A majority of grandparents in the survey shared meals with grandchildren, talked to them on the phone and visited them often. Significant numbers of grandparents also reported receiving help with household chores and with shopping from their adult grandchildren.
LIFHE’s financial results showed 50% of seniors were somewhat satisfied with their income; but 28% were not at all satisfied. Seventy percent reported lower income than before they retired and 45% had reduced money spent on extras (such as clothing or recreation) in order to make ends meet. A full 54% of people interviewed live alone and almost 20% provide caregiving services for family members, friends and neighbors.
The data collected by the LIFHE team is now available to other researchers investigating the health, finances and social engagement of older African Americans. “This will be a great resource for many types of research,” Dr. Lichtenberg explains. “Between our large Participant Resource Pool and the detailed data collected from LIFHE, we hope to empower researchers to answer pivotal questions about the urban aging experience.”
For more information visit: http://www.mpsi.wayne.edu/research/lifhe.php
http://www.mpsi.wayne.edu/research/lifhe.php
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