The Health Services Research Center of the UNCCH proposes to establish a Center on the Health and Effective Functioning of Older Rural Populations as a multidisciplinary Program on Health Research for Older Rural Populations. The purpose of the program will be to study the social, economic, psychological, environmental, and biomedical factors affecting aging processes and the health and effective functioning of older people living in rural areas. Over the life of the grant, the program center will develop a Core Research Program Staff and solidify effective working relationships with appropriate research sites. In the first year of program support, four small-scale studies will be initiated at the research sites: 1) an epidemiological study of trauma among the elderly in North Carolina; 2) a study of the epidemiological, clinical, and functional status dimensions of the common geriatric problem of dizziness; 3) a study of the patterns of health and social service availability for elderly persons in North Carolina; and 4) a study of exercise training for frail elderly men and women as a preventive strategy for the reduction of falls using lay exercise trainers. At the end of the first year of support, a Research Agenda Review workshop will be held, to which will be invited a number of colleagues from other parts of the nations, including the NIA Program Officer and other staff, to evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of the research agenda formulated at the outset of the program.
