Research
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.
National Endowment for the Arts
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Lokon
September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2024
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, 2023
USAging, pass through funds from The John A. Hartford Foundation
Principal Investigator: Suzanne Kunkel
April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025
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.
Department of Health & Human Services
Principal Investigator: Suzanne Kunkel
October 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024
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 the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging to assist aging network organizations in maximizing their effectiveness.
Ohio Department of Aging
Principal Investigators: Robert Applebaum, Ian Matthew Nelson, and John Bowblis
October 23, 2023 through June 30, 2025
The Scripps Gerontology Center has been involved in studying the long-term services system in Ohio for the past three decades. In this phase of the project, we will provide data in three areas as part of our ongoing effort to assist Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) in efforts to improve the lives of older Ohioans with disability. Study components include; a continuation of the Biennial Survey (15th wave), an in-depth analysis and recommendations addressing the direct care workforce challenges in the long-term services area, and a description and understanding of the impacts of Ohio’s locally funded initiatives for older people. The study investigators are Robert Applebaum, Matt Nelson, and John Bowblis.
AARP
Principal Investigators: Ian Nelson
January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023
This project reports federal data aggregated to state-level statistics on COVID-19 prevalence, protection and testing, and examines visitation policies, oversight and monitoring in long-term care facilities for use in the AARP COVID-19 dashboard. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in facilities with high proportions of Black, Indigenous, and people of color will also be described and examined to prepare a report on contributing explanatory factors.
Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Heston-Mullins
October 1, 2020 through January 31, 2024
This project will evaluate interventions to increase community dementia capability and improve outcomes for community-dwelling individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD), those at risk of developing ADRD, and their caregivers.
University of Maryland Baltimore County, pass-through from the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES)
Co-Investigator: Phyllis Cummins
July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2024
This project will examine basic skills including literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills as academic readiness indicators in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)-related workforce development programs of postsecondary education institutions in the U.S. We will conduct a series of (1) secondary data analyses, (2) primary data collection and analyses, and (3) qualitative review of the workforce development programs and interviews with the key stakeholders. Given the importance of STEM-related occupations in the context of global competitiveness, national economic development and existing employment issues (e.g., job replacement due to the automation), the postsecondary STEM-related workforce development programs play a critical role to prepare future workforce. However, little is known about basic skills distribution and the roles of basic skills for the education/training outcomes in postsecondary workforce development program settings. Takashi Yamashita (University of Maryland Baltimore County) leads the project as Principal Investigator. Rita Karam (RAND) is a Co-Principal Investigator and Phyllis Cummins (Miami University) serves as a Co-Investigator.
The Knolls of Oxford
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Lokon
February 1, 2008 through December 31, 2023
Principal Investigator: Katherine Abbott
March 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2027
Principal Investigator: Matt Nelson
October 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Heston-Mullins and Robert Applebaum
January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2023
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Lokon
March 14, 2022 through December 31, 2023
Principal Investigator: Leah Janssen and Robert Applebaum
December 29, 2022 through December 31, 2023
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Heston-Mullins
February 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023
Principal Investigator: Matt Nelson and Robert J. Graham
August 1, 2023 through January 30, 2024
Principal Investigator: Meghan Young
January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024
Principal Investigator: Meghan Young and Elizabeth Lokon
January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025
Principal Investigator: John Bowblis
March 1, 2022 through September 28, 2026
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
- Current Workforce and Quality Challenges in New York State Nursing Homes
- Exploring the Criterion Validity of Pragmatic Person-Centered Care/Culture Change Measures
SEE MORE ON OUR PUBLICATIONS PAGE
Additional Resources
- OhioPopulation.org: Explore 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
Scripps Gerontology Center
