For some residents of Portland, Oregon, a walk down memory lane has taken on a whole new meaning. The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photographic Images (SHARP) study combines walking, social engagement, and reminiscence to help promote cognitive health in older African Americans.
No interventions have yet been shown to effectively prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease. What we do know is that finding a way to beat Alzheimer’s disease will require all of us working together. “When testing potential interventions, it is important to involve as many people as possible across racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups in innovative studies that test a wide range of activities.” said Center Director Dr. Nina Silverberg. National Institute on Aging (NIA) Alzheimer’s Disease Center Program.
One study aimed at doing just that is being conducted at the NIA-supported Leighton Center on Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Brain Research Network. .
This six-month pilot study tested African-Americans aged 55 and older living in historically black neighborhoods in Portland to find out which combinations of activities could reduce cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. See if it helps reduce risk.
Older African Americans are more likely than older white Americans to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, due in part to socioeconomic factors, such as higher rates of cardiovascular disease. This may be due to the influence of physical and health-related factors. A number of studies increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. However, when developing health interventions to test in this population, researchers can face barriers such as overcoming reliability issues and ensuring that research is culturally relevant. There is a gender.
The foundation of SHARP research is culturally relevant, engaging, and Dr. Raina Kroff, Sharp’s project leader, assistant professor of neurology at OHSU, and 2015 graduate of the NIA Butler Williams Scholars Program, offered congratulations. “We intentionally developed a program that leverages the power of the community,” she said.
connect people and places
Participant Wiley Barnett, 80, is committed to regular exercise, but sometimes finds it easy to make excuses. “This project reinforced what I had planned and tried to do. We trust each other,” he said.
Barnett also cited social interaction as a benefit of participating in SHARP. “Thanks to this program, I have regular social contact with roughly the same age group,” he said.
The 19 participants will walk in small groups three times a week along a preset 1-mile route north or northeast of Portland. During free walks, participants carry computer tablets and choose themed routes, such as “Childhood and Family” or “Food and Markets.” When a “memory marker” is reached, a sound plays, an image pops up, and a discussion question appears.
For example, the ‘Sports and Leisure’ themed memory marker displays a 1951 photo of young people playing table tennis at the old Knott Street Community Centre. These include the question, “What was your favorite game you played as a child?”
Participants’ discussions will be recorded and used to create a digital archive of stories, as well as community-based sessions on health and cognitive aging, Dr Kloff said. This part of the project is highly motivating for participants who are concerned about the loss of history and its rapid disappearance, she added.
Preserving history and improving health
The areas of the city where participants walk have dramatically changed over the past 20 years from a majority African-American population to a majority white population, and from old buildings to new stores, boutiques, and restaurants. has changed.
“You wouldn’t believe what it was like and what it is now,” Barnett said. “It affects you emotionally because it’s so different physically.”
Dr. Kroff has seen these changes firsthand. She grew up in Portland and frequently visited areas where SHARP was taking place. After training as an anthropologist and archaeologist on the African diaspora, she entered the field of healthy aging with a passion for motivating people to be healthy and preserving history and the stories and experiences of people in the region. I was looking for a way to combine my passion for what I do.
“This intervention is also culturally celebratory, as it is relevant to our community and draws on the strengths of our culture and neighborhood history. It also tells a story that will become part of our digital archive. This also allows participants to give back,” Dr. Kloff said.
By doing something motivating and celebratory, the team hopes to increase physical activity and social engagement, and reap cognitive benefits in a sustained way.
During this initial stage, SHARP aims to engage with participants, build relationships, and ensure that participants want to continue participating in the program. The long-term goal of this study is to see if a multifaceted intervention can maintain and improve cognitive health. Through surveys, researchers are currently measuring the program’s impact on participants’ energy levels, the type and frequency of physical activity, and the number of days inactive due to poor physical and mental health.
“Dr. Kloff’s research takes into account the importance of sociocultural factors in health interventions,” said Carl V. Hill, Ph.D., MPH, director of the NIA Office of Special Populations. “At the same time, it activates social networks that may help people maintain behaviors that may protect cognitive function.”
Based on the Health Disparities Research Framework, NIA supports a wide range of research to understand how multilevel factors, such as race/ethnicity, social networks, and educational attainment, influence aging and health. Masu. In Alzheimer’s disease, we have recently supported a number of new projects that address health disparities in dementia rates, blood pressure, brain health, caregiver health, and more.
In the next phase of the SHARP study, Dr. Kloff plans to adapt the model to include participants with mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment is a condition in which people have more memory or other thinking problems than normal for their age, but their symptoms do not interfere with their daily lives. Everyday life.
Dr. Kloff is also a co-investigator of the African American Dementia and Aging Project, which aims to improve understanding of age-related memory loss in older African Americans.
