The College of the Holy Cross seeks an academic Research Enhancement Award to fund the pilot stage of the Worcester Area Project on Aging, which will be housed in the Department of Sociology. The core of the long-term Project is an annual survey of residents of the City of Worcester who have reached the age of 65. Each year a multi-stage, cluster sample of households within sampled census tracts and blocks will be used to identify persons 65 years and older to be interviewed for the study. Each independent sample will comprise a panel which, in addition to its inclusion in the general survey, will be the target for focused age-related research by faculty and students. The data gathered will aid on-going faculty research, support the College's Gerontological Studies program and create an incentive for directing students into scientific and health care professions. A two-year AREA pilot grant will support research on two specific questions: in the first year, the relationship between changes in health status and religiosity perceived exclusion from church-sponsored events, and subjective well being; and in the second, the relationship between fear of crime and the risks and rates of criminal victimization among the elderly. The survey instrument, an interview schedule, will elicit a comprehensive range of information related to the social, psychological, and physical processes of aging. In addition, items related to the specific research issues designated for the pilot will be added to the standardized schedule during the year each focused project is conducted. The pilot grant will directly support basic research for three faculty in the Sociology department during the summers of 1989 and 1990. Faculty will enlist and train undergraduate student researchers in primary research techniques at a critical point in their academic careers. Students will learn the excitement of scientific inquiry as it relates especially to the health related problems of the aged. Further, the departmental curriculum will be revised to integrate research opportunities in the Gerontology program and the major that will facilitate faculty research during the academic year and provide long-term support for the Project on Aging. The department plans instrumentation and long-term student summer research grant applications as follow-up to the AREA pilot grant. An AREA grant will lead to the Worcester Area Project on Aging that will provide 1) ongoing research and publication opportunities for faculty in a teaching-intensive, liberal arts college; 2) longitudinal studies in a substantive area and discipline characterized by cross sectional and correlational designs; 3) valuable research experience and biomedical career incentives for undergraduates in Sociology and the Worcester Consortium Gerontology Studies Program; and 4) a resource for the providers of health and social services to Worcester's elderly population.
