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Current Projects

The core of our work includes research in the areas of demography, long-term care, program evaluation, the aging workforce, and arts and dementia programming. View our current projects below.

2025 Program Evaluation of the Kott Gerontology Scholars Program.

Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation.
Principal Investigators:
Heather Menne and Jennifer Kinney.
March 17, 2025 through December 31, 2025.

The Kott Gerontology Scholars Program (KGSP) provides internship scholarships to promising advanced degree graduate students interested in the aging field who are attending Chicagoland area universities. The KGSP encourages and supports graduate students in a variety of professional specializations to develop skills that will engage and prepare them to continue working with and on behalf of older adults after graduation. For this project, Scripps Gerontology Center will a) assess the impact of KGSP on scholars’ career trajectories and professional development and b) evaluate the engagement and effectiveness of KGSP with partners’ agencies. Findings will inform recommendations on future efforts to support students preparing to work with and on behalf of older adults.

A Novel Tool for Integrating Resident Preferences for Improving Service Delivery and Satisfaction in Long-Term Care Settings

Linked Senior Inc., pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Principal Investigator: Anthony Sterns and Katherine Abbott
July 5, 2024 through June 30, 2026

For over 30 years, culture change initiatives have attempted to transition the way health care is provided from the medical model, where care is provided according to what works best for the organization and staff, to a person-centered model. Person-centered care is an approach that emphasizes “knowing the person” and honoring each individual’s preferences. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the largest payer of long-term services and supports (LTSS), has supported person-centered care (PCC) via federally mandated regulations. However, there continues to be a lack of progress in providing PCC to older adults receiving LTSS. Knowledge of a resident’s everyday care preferences provides the foundation for ongoing individualized care planning. Evidence suggests that individualized care is an important element in quality of life models and results in enhanced well-being. In addition, honoring preferences empowers residents/clients, helping them to maximize their potential for retaining relationships, capabilities, interests and skills by acknowledging what they prefer in the context of their strengths and needs. In order for providers to shift toward delivering PCC, they need timely, efficient methods to gauge whether consumers are satisfied that their preferences are being met while also identifying priorities for improvement. The Preference
Based Living research team has collaborated with Linked Senior, a resident engagement software platform, to build this software called Care Preference Assessment of Satisfaction or ComPASS-16™. ComPASS-16 combines mandated preference assessment with additional details for important preferences to integrate into the plan of care and facilitates asking consumers about how satisfied they are that their important preferences have been met as a quality assurance, performance improvement (QAPI) process measure. This project will focus on establishing the feasibility of overcoming institutional barriers and achieving preference-based care for the 1 million older adults who reside in nursing homes and over 800,000 who reside in assisted living communities through a demonstration of the impact of technology. 

ACL: Aging Network Care Navigation Services

USAging, pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Principal Investigator: Heather Menne
October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025

The ACL: Aging Network Care Navigation Services project collects national data on the care navigation activities of the national network of Area Agencies on Aging and Title VI organizations serving tribal elders, evaluates the delivery of care navigation services, and creates replication toolkit's for promising care navigation models.

Advancing Coordination of Home- and Community-based Services for the AD/ADRD Population

Regents of the University of California, San Francisco, pass through funds from the National Institute on Aging
Principal Investigator: Suzanne Kunkel 
April 1, 2022 through January 31, 2026

Effective delivery of home and community-based services to support people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias who are living at home requires coordination across multiple agencies and service sectors. A key component of that coordination is sharing information about health, functional status, care needs, and safety. This project addresses best practices and barriers to data sharing agreements and interoperability of information systems across agencies and across service sectors.

Alzheimer's Special Care Units in Nursing Homes: Resident Outcomes, Racial/ethnic Disparities, and State Policies

Emory University, pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
September 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025

This study will examine the role of memory care units in nursing homes and its interaction with race/ethnicity of residents and quality of care.

Assessment and Refinement of the Service Adequacy & Satisfaction Instrument (SASI)

Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio
Principal Investigator: Jonathon Vivoda
November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025

The Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio (COA) supports programs to help older adults in their service area. Within the COA’s service area, numerous individual providers deliver home care, home delivered meals, and transportation services. Satisfaction with such services is assessed using the Service Adequacy & Satisfaction Instrument (SASI) tool. In recent years, changes have allowed for clients to engage in consumer-directed care and laundry services, issues not included in the original SASI. The primary goals of this study are to assess the existing SASI tool, then develop and validate new items to add to the SASI that assess consumer-directed care and laundry services (as well as any new areas of consumer expectations).

BRICKS: Building Resilience in Vulnerable Immigrants Communities through Social Connectedness, Knowledge, and Self-Empowerment

Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Principal Investigator: Saruna Ghimire
March 6, 2025 through June 30, 2025

Resettled refugees in the United States face significant mental health challenges, including high rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite this, their utilization of mental health services is low due to various barriers such as cultural, economic, and language obstacles, as well as gaps in culturally responsive services. Scholars attribute the low utilization of mental health services to the Western models of care that overlook refugees' unique experiences and cultural beliefs about illness and recommend the development of culturally responsive interventions and services. To address this issue, our study aims to design and evaluate a peer-led, culturally tailored intervention for immigrants and refugees.

Demonstration and Evaluation of Employer-Based Driving Safety Programs

Regents of the University of Michigan, pass through funds from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration
Principal Investigator: Jonathon Vivoda
December 13, 2024 through December 12, 2029

 

This research involves the development, demonstration, and evaluation of employer-based driving safety programs. Programs in three areas will be developed: seat belt use, drowsy driving, and distracted driving. The goal of the research is to provide safety benefits in these areas for employers who implement the programs developed during the project, among their employee drivers.

Developing and Disseminating Strategies for Nursing Homes to Fully Implement the PELI

The Donaghue Foundation
Principal Investigator: Katherine Abbott 
March 15, 2024 through September 15, 2025

  1. The original project allowed us to advance understanding of the impact of implementing the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory (PELI) in Ohio nursing homes. We validated a pragmatic indicator of extent of PELI implementation and explored the organizational characteristics associated with communities that fully implement the PELI. We found that NHs fully implementing the PELI were more likely to have a 4- or 5- star deficiency star rating, lower deficiency scores, and were more likely to be deficiency-free. NHs fully implementing the PELI were less likely to have any complaints and any substantiated complaints compared to partial PELI implementers.
  2. We can confidently state that providers who fully implement the PELI through assessing resident preferences, integrating preferences into care plans, and evaluating their efforts have better outcomes than providers who do none or only partial PELI implementation. This is a systemic approach to preference-based care that we intend to advance using the R3 funds to disseminate and broaden adoption. While the data we used comes from Ohio nursing homes, we have evidence to show that Ohio providers are representative of providers nationwide. The nature of nursing home regulations create continuity from state to state.
  3. We have limited information on the implementation strategies nursing homes use to fully implement the PELI. A detailed description (e.g., case study) of how organizations of different resource levels (e.g., star ratings) approach implementation would assist us in developing necessary tools and resources for NH providers seeking to adopt this approach. Identifying the strategies necessary to achieve full PELI implementation will promote replication and scalability. In addition, our stakeholders have consistently told us that we need to better
    communicate our findings. However, our dissemination through peer-review journals is not an effective mode to communicate to providers. We need to be able to effectively communicate the value proposition of fully implementing the PELI and determine the optimal communication channels to reach NH decision makers.
  4. We propose to conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with approximately 10% of Ohio NHs that have fully implemented the PELI. The 2021 Ohio Biennial Survey that is completed by all NHs in the state, had n=182 communities who self-identified as Full PELI implementors (e.g., use information gathered from the PELI in care management and/or quality initiatives). We would start by reaching out to the Nursing Home Administrators of these communities via a Qualtrics survey to identify if they still consider themselves full PELI implementors. If they respond “yes” we will ask if they would be willing to participate in the study in exchange for $500. To the extent possible, we will attempt to stratify the sample by the organizational characteristics we found predictive of full PELI implementation. 2 For example, our implementation work thus far has indicated that the feasibility of uptake is related to resources (e.g., proxy indicator is star ratings). Therefore, our goal would be to highlight implementation case studies for low, medium, and highly resourced communities. Of the OH NHs that are still fully implementing the PELI, we would ask to do a one day, in-person visit to conduct interviews with the individuals who were most closely involved in the PELI implementation at the care community. We would compensate each provider $500 for the visit and craft a semi-structured interview guide using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Interviews could be in the form of focus
    groups or individual interviews, depending upon staff availability. We would conduct a thematic analysis across the cases (cross-case analysis) to identify the logical steps or stages of full implementation that can be replicated or followed by other communities. Our knowledge owners (a.k.a. stakeholders) have consistently told us that we need to communicate our findings more widely. However, our training to disseminate through peer-review journals is not an effective mode to communicate to NH providers. Therefore, we would then work with John Beilenson, president of Strategic Communications and Planning (SCP), to craft a clear and compelling value proposition for nursing home leaders and associated print and digital communications that would be shared with provider decision makers through a variety of channels.


    The steps or stages of full PELI implementation could guide policymakers on how to evaluate and incentivize provider participation/adoption. For example, pay for performance initiatives could be tied to evidence that providers are making progress through the steps or stages of implementation. Higher levels of implementation could receive more reimbursement than lower levels of implementation as evidenced by the Kansas PEAK 2.0 initiative. In addition, the case studies would be useful to policymakers and providers as examples of how 
    nursing home providers were able to implement the PELI given the similar contexts of the regulatory environment and nation-wide staffing shortages. Other stakeholders we have worked with include Ombudsmen and family members. Ombudsmen are well-positioned to recommend our work to nursing home providers when they visit communities about a complaint. Family members can advocate for their loved ones who live in the nursing home setting and can complete a PELI on behalf of their loved one who many not be able to communicate their preferences to care partners. We know we need both the 30,000-foot view for decision makers as well as the specific details for how providers successfully implemented in order to increase uptake of our evidence-based program.

Enhancing Caring Communities: Assisting Locally Funded Programs in Improving Support and Services to Family and Friend Caregivers

RRF Foundation for Aging
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Heston-Mullins and Robert Applebaum 
Effective through June 30, 2026

 

Evaluation of the Positive Choices Program

Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio
Principal Investigator: Leah Janssen, Robert Applebaum
December 29, 2022 through June 30, 2024

The prevalence of substance abuse among older adults has been steadily increasing. However, older adults are screened, assessed, and treated for substance use disorders (SUDs) at a much lower rate than their younger counterparts. Those who are treated for SUDs face an array of barriers including limited resources, lacking recognition from medical professionals, and stigma. As a result, the Positive Choices program was developed to provide care-management for older adults with SUDs and help them achieve their long-term health-related goals. Through the use of 12 in-depth interviews with day-to-day program personnel, this study sought to better understand the program, highlight strengths, and identify opportunities for growth. Descriptive data was also collected to describe the demographic characteristics of Positive Choices enrollees. Thematic analysis revealed the program succeeded in building trust with members, providing resources, utilizing evidence-based tools, and providing timely communication. These strengths are coupled with opportunities to improve the program by continuing to destigmatize SUDs among older people. These findings reveal the critical role care-management plays in supporting older people with SUDs. Other programs working with this population should consider the results of this evaluation to ensure older adults with SUDs are best supported in the future.

Expanding Dementia Capability through Innovation and Person Centered Solutions in Minnesota

Trellis, pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Principal Investigator: Denise Tyler and Kate Perepezko
May 27, 2025 through August 31, 2025

Expanding Opening Minds through Art to Respite Services

Arthur N. Rupe Foundation
Principal Investigator: Meghan Young
January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024

This project focuses on expanding OMA’s reach into respite care while highlighting an important collaboration between OMA and the Respite For All Foundation. The project, ultimately, seeks to equip respite care providers with more training and education on best practices when working with people living with dementia.

Fostering Social Connection for Older Adults and Caregivers

USAging
Principal Investigators: Suzanne Kunkel
April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2027

 

With funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, USAging is creating and implementing a series of business acumen resources, trainings, learning collaboratives and consultancies to support the development of new lines of business, including contracting with health care providers, among the network of agencies servicing older adults and younger people with disabilities. Scripps Gerontology Center is contracting with USAging to evaluate the effectiveness and overall impact of the resources and interventions offered through this project.

Improving Adult Immunization Rates for COVID‐19, Influenza, and Routine Adult Vaccinations through Partnerships with Medical Subspecialty Professional Societies and the Long‐Term Care Professional Society

The Society for Post‐Acute and Long‐Term Care Medicine (AMDA), pass through from the CDC
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
March 1, 2022 through September 28, 2026

Longitudinal Data Tracking of Adult Day Services Participants and Family Caregivers

Jewish Family Services
Principal Investigator: Heather Menne
April 28, 2025 through August 31, 2025

This project involves setting up ongoing data collection about adult day services (ADS) participants and family caregivers. Measures currently collected by Jewish Family Services (JFS) would be tracked in a manner that is accessible to address research questions. New measures would be added and tracked to develop more complete picture of participants (e.g., health, engagement, relationship with caregivers, amount of time in the program, health/social care utilization) and family members (e.g., well-being, stress, relationship with participant, program satisfaction, health/social care utilization). Specific measures and procedures would be created to understand when and why participants disenroll from the ADS. Products from this project include data collection tools and procedures and a brief summary of the program and participants.

Nursing Home Staff Dementia Attitudes, Facility Culture, and Staff Turnover.

University of Michigan, pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Principal Investigator: Denise Tyler
June 1, 2025 through August 31, 2025

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandates annual dementia training for nursing home (NH) staff. What is not known is how this training translates into the dementia knowledge and attitudes of staff or how this knowledge relates to staff turnover. In addition, previous research has shown that the ability of NH staff to turn training into practice is predicated on the facility’s organizational culture. The purpose of this study is to use data from the National Dementia Workforce Study nursing home survey to examine the relationships between staff dementia knowledge and attitudes, facility culture, and staff turnover.

Our specific aims are to 1) Examine the relationship between staff dementia knowledge and attitudes and staff turnover; 2) Develop a composite measure of facility culture and describe the relationship between facility culture and staff turnover, and 3) Explore the relationship between facility culture and staff dementia knowledge and attitudes.

Nursing Homes' Bans on Visits during the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Effectiveness and Consequences

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), pass through from DHHS
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2027

Ohio Family & Resident Satisfaction Survey Process Evaluation

Ohio Department of Aging (ODA)
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Heston-Mullins
May 31, 2024 through December 31, 2025

Private Equity Expansion in Assisted Living: Implications for Dementia Care

Johns Hopkins University
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2026

This project will examine the reasons and factors associated with private equity ownership of assisted living facilities. It will then examine the effect of private equity ownership on the health outcomes of individuals with memory care diagnoses.

ScrippsAVID (Arts-based, Virtual, Intergenerational, Dementia Friendly) Web Application: A Platform to Provide People Living with Dementia with Meaningful, Creative and Social Engagement

National Endowment for the Arts 
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Lokon 
September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2024

ScrippsAVID (Arts-based, Virtual, Intergenerational and Dementia-friendly) is a web-based application with video chat function, for people living with dementia (PLWD) to connect with someone from a different generation, and make art together. This is a virtual extension of the in-person Opening Minds through Art (OMA) program. By making ScrippsAVID accessible to PLWD, we are removing technological barriers for everyone interested in intergenerational art-making opportunities. ScrippsAVID can be accessed securely by anyone with an Internet connection at no cost. No dementia screening is required to participate. Pilot data from 58 older adults and 158 students collected during the pandemic show that weekly virtual connections resulted in the similar benefits for both elders and students as the in-person OMA experience. ScrippsAVID is aimed at reducing technical challenges by: • Simplifying the experience of using ScrippsAVID • Creating orientation for PLWD: How to use ScrippsAVID • Soliciting care-partners’ participation with specified role: How to support the PLWD • Creating orientation for volunteers: Effective communication strategies Expected outcomes: • A virtual art gallery where participants share their finished artwork • Reduction in loneliness scores on both PLWD and volunteers • Improvements in volunteers’ attitudes toward PLWD   

ScrippsAVID: Reducing loneliness by connecting generations virtually through the arts (aanhkwiniikioni ‐ 'linking the generations')

Retirement Research Foundation (RRF)
Principal Investigator: Meghan Young and Elizabeth Lokon 
January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025

This study aims to measure the impact of ScrippsAVID, an Arts-based, Virtual, Intergenerational, and Dementia-friendly video-chat platform, on reducing loneliness and addressing ageism. This study is essential in ScrippsAVID’s national dissemination while offering insights into the viability of virtual programming in promoting social and intergenerational connections for older adults, including those living with dementia and their care partners.

Understanding the Capacity of the Aging Network (2024-2027)

USAging, pass through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Principal Investigator: Heather Menne
September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025

The Information and Planning project collects national data on the activities and community positioning of the national network of Area Agencies on Aging and Title VI organizations serving tribal elders. The data collected from the surveys informs a broad array of technical assistance strategies and resources developed and deployed, also under the auspices of this grant, by USAging to assist aging network organizations in maximizing their effectiveness.

Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project

An Aging Ohio

Ohio is aging along with the nation and much of the world. With more than 2 million people age 60 and older, Ohio ranks sixth nationally in the size of the aged population. In 2010, nearly 20% of the state’s population was over the age of 60. By 2050, we’ve projected the 60 and older population could make up almost 30% of the total population.

Research-Driven Planning & Development

The Ohio legislature established The Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project in 1988 in response to the growing older population. Through this project, we provide applied research and policy analysis. In addition, we provide technical assistance, training and education for Ohio legislators, public administrators, service providers, and the community at large.

Recently published research 

SEE MORE ON OUR PUBLICATIONS PAGE

Additional Resources

  • Ohio-Population.orgExplore population characteristics such as age, disability status, income, marital status and education among Ohio's 88 counties.

Changing Minds: An Introduction to Person-Centered Care

This video is a resource for those wanting to learn more about person-centered care principles or for those wishing to teach others about aspects of person-centered care. In 2013, researchers from Scripps focused on direct care workers and best practices of high performing long-term care organizations in Ohio. (Common Sense for Caring Organizations: Results from a Study of High-Performing Home Care Agencies and Nursing Homes; Straker, J.K., Boehle, S. G., Nelson, I. M., and Fox, E. M.; January 2013; URI: http://hdl.handle. net/2374.MIA/4953). An interesting finding emerged from this research: almost all of the high performing organizations, coincidentally or not, provided person-centered care. Person-centered care seems to benefit care recipients, employees, and organizations overall.

One of the main markers of person-centered care is the knowledge and understanding a worker has for the elder in his or her care. In an industry that has often been focused upon quick and efficient completion of tasks, it may seem unusual for workers to take time for unrushed conversation with an elder. This time of focused conversation is actually an important foundation of person-centered care.

Especially for those who have spent time learning and working in the traditional model of care, person-centered care requires a “re-framing” or a different way of looking at situations. This video was made as a tool to better understand some basic ideas about person-centered care.

Changing Mind

Who is this video for?

Our video is for a variety of audiences. Potential viewers include:

  • Direct care workers in training
  • All staff in organizations beginning to adopt person-centered practices
  • New employees in person-centered organizations
  • Families of consumers served by person-centered organizations
  • Board members of person-centered organizations
  • All staff in person-centered organizations needing a “refresher” on PCC philosophy and practice

How to use this video

The video can be viewed in its entirety, or viewed in three separate segments to stimulate discussion and presentation of other materials and information. Groups or individuals can answer the questions posed in the training guide.

What Matters Most: A Guide for My Support and Care

The What Matters Most Guide is a tool for gathering and organizing information to guide the delivery of person-centered care at home. 

The What Matters Most (WMM) project was funded by the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) with the goal of developing a tool for the PASSPORT program, Ohio’s over-60 Medicaid home- and community-based (HCBS) waiver program. ODA is committed to delivering person-centered vs. agency centered care and the WMM tool was developed as a practice tool to promote preference-based person-centered care. In developing What Matters Most, we collaborated with two Area Agencies on Aging (AAA7 in rural Southeastern Ohio and Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging in urban northeastern Ohio.)

Person-Centered Home- and Community-Based Services: What Matters Most