A service-oriented approach to clinical trial recruitment for dementia and brain health: Methods and case examples of MyAlliance for Brain Health.

Introduction: Recruitment of sufficient and diverse participants into clinical research for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias remains a formidable challenge. The primary goal of this manuscript is to provide an overview of an approach to diversifying research recruitment and to provide case examples of several methods for achieving greater diversity in clinical research enrollment.

Methods: The University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (KU ADRC) developed MyAlliance for Brain Health (MyAlliance), a service-oriented recruitment model.

Preliminary translation of 'Reducing Disability in Alzheimer's Disease' among individuals with intellectual disabilities and caregiver dyads.

Background: The Reducing Disability in Alzheimer's Disease in Kansas City (RDAD-KC) intervention has been shown to improve the health of individuals with dementia and caregiver dyads. This manuscript reports the results of implementing the RDAD among individuals with intellectual disabilities and caregiver dyads.

Methods: Nine community agencies deployed the 12-week intervention.

Challenges and opportunities of age diverse universities: Perspectives from admissions and career services.

Universities are experiencing shifts in age distributions of students, with fewer younger students and an increase in the number of people mid-life and beyond seeking education and job training. Thus, there are strong arguments for universities to embrace opportunities to increase age-diversity on campus. This qualitative study explores the challenges, opportunities, and strategies related to university age-diversity from the perspective of Admissions and Career Services staff from one midwestern university.

Applying Gerontological Social Work Perspectives to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Social workers are familiar with the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic; and we apply three gerontological social work perspectives that might increase our chances of minimizing negative outcomes and improving health and quality of life for everyone. First, the reality that the older population is very heterogeneous challenges ageism and age-stereotyping that has surfaced with COVID-19. Second, concepts of cumulative disadvantage and intersectionality offer clear explanations of the disparities that are being illuminated and lead us to advocate for fundamental changes to reduce disparities in later life and for people across the life course.

Recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Older Adults.

As we look toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we overview challenges to be minimized, including economic setbacks, health and well-being effects, and highlighted ageism, racism, and classism. We articulate opportunities to be seized, including increased comfort with technology and online platforms; stronger family and intergenerational connections, renewed energy to combat social isolation; more respect for self-care and time management; increased awareness about the importance of advance directives; and, potentially, increased interest across disciplines to work on issues of aging society. Ongoing efforts to improve policies and programs for longer, healthier lives might now be more productive, as we communicate to consumers, public officials, and everyday citizens who may be more aware of what isn't working, what is at stake, and what might be improved.

Making the Case for Age-Diverse Universities.

Life expectancy has increased substantially; yet universities remain age-segregated and fail to educate people across the longer life course. Demographic shifts call for universities to change their orientation toward age and life course. Arguments as to why universities should serve students of all ages and operate as age-diverse communities include: ensuring the capacity of individual workers and the labor force; educating people to succeed in age-diverse settings; producing innovation in an aging society; supporting meaningful engagement, social connection, and cognitive health into later life; and ensuring the supply of students.