August 21, 2017
Our Healthy Brain Research Network Student Team: What Are They Up To This Summer?
Nikki Eller, MPH (June 2017), is analyzing data from six local focus groups conducted with adult Asian Americans to test messaging regarding concerns about a loved one’s memory. She is a co-author on a resulting manuscript and has codeveloped community provider and policy briefs to share lessons learned; these will be disseminated by project partners with the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging and the Washington State Dementia Action Collaborative (WA DAC). Nikki is a recent recipient of a competitive award from the national Alzheimer’s Association’s 2017 Public Health and Alzheimer’s Disease Graduate Scholarship Program.
Both Eliza Cohn, an MSW student, and Marc Webb, a DNP student, are supporting the thematic analysis of transcripts from memory messaging focus groups conducted at Healthy Brain Research Network sites nationally. Messages were tested with Latino (University of Illinois, Chicago), LGBTQ (University of Houston) and African American (Oregon Health and Sciences University) adults.
The HBRN Memory Messaging Project is an extension of formative work conducted at the University of Pennsylvania HBRN Center (Karlawish, Jordan).
Jonathan Medina, an HBRN-de Tornyay Center Summer Scholar and DNP student, is leading a scoping review to identify and synthesize the existing research on stigma reduction aimed toward Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Preliminary findings will be shared with the WA DAC this summer, with a particular focus on implications for rural communities.
Mia Vogel, MSW (June 2017) is an MPH student and HBRN Scholar. She is currently participating/co-author in a systematic review of the scientific literature to examine the terminology used for concepts related to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. This work builds on the 2015 Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations regarding communicating about cognitive health (IOM report, Cognitive Aging: Progress in Understanding and Opportunities for Action.)