Janelle Taylor Receives Funding from National Institute on Aging for Study on Health Outcomes for Dementia Patients
Posted: 10/17/2017 (CSDE Awards)
Janelle S. Taylor, affiliate and Professor in the Department of Anthropology, has received funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for a new study titled “Health Outcomes for Patients with Dementia without Family Caregivers.” This two-year R21 project includes both quantitative and qualitative components, and will be a collaboration between Taylor as PI and colleagues from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; the VA Puget Sound Health Care System; UW Medicine, Social Work, Anthropology; and CSDE. Collaborators include Marlaine F. Gray, Eric B. Larson, Paul K. Crane, Elizabeth K. Vig, Stephanie G.B. Wheeler, Ann M. O’Hare, Clara W. Berridge, and Bettina Shell-Duncan, along with CSDE’s Cori Mar. The research will analyze data from the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study–an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of incident dementia–in combination with health records data, to document whether older adults with dementia who lack family support suffer worse health outcomes, and/or different patterns of interaction with the health care system, than do those with strong family support.
This is Taylor’s first time submitting an NIH grant as PI, and it was funded on the first submission–a happy outcome for which Taylor gives much credit to the excellent support that she received from CSDE. She relied upon CSDE staff not only to apply for the grant (John Kemner), but also for guidance on NIH policies and procedures (John Kemner, Sara Curran, Bettina Shell-Duncan), comments and feedback on application drafts (Sara Curran), and advice on study design and preliminary assessments of data (for example, when requesting preliminary data and preparing a power analysis; Cori Mar). She hopes that her positive experience and outcome, as a first-time NIH applicant, may offer encouragement to other CSDE affiliates considering embarking upon what can be a rather daunting application process.