The NYU-ADC has pioneered in the development of comprehensive counseling for family caregivers of people with AD, and has established a national reputation in this field. The Psychosocial Core will provide resources, including data and participants, for the design and evaluation of new psychosocial interventions for all older adults who participate in the NYU-ADC, including those with early signs of cognitive impairment, and continue to support its nationally known caregiver intervention research program. The affiliated Psychosocial Research Program has developed several innovative projects to reduce the emotional consequences of cognitive decline, including an innovative chorus for people with dementia with their family members and expanded research related to the original evidence-based NYU Caregiver Intervention. The Psychosocial Core will continue to provide counseling and support to participants in the ADC and to the family members of participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia, which enhances the ability of the ADC to retain participants and study partners for longitudinal follow-up. The counselors will maintain contact with family caregivers of participants with moderate to severe AD, after they are no longer receiving in-person annual assessments, to increase the likelihood of autopsy of these participants. The activities of the Core enhance the ability of the ADC to retain its clinical population through autopsy by providing counseling and resource information to all participants. The Psychosocial Core interacts closely with the other Cores and provides valuable support to the research projects, clinical trials and pilot studies associated with the ADC and with collaborating investigators. The Psychosocial Core conducts a Psychosocial Assessment of all participants with normal cognitive function and MCI, and of study partners of those with MCI and caregivers of participants in the early stage of dementia. The assessment now includes measures to enable research about the psychosocial impact of cognitive changes associated with aging and incipient dementia, and investigate causes for the disparity between impairment in function and results of cognitive tests and brain imaging evaluations. The Psychosocial Core data, together with the other data in the ADC database, will provide a uniquely comprehensive dataset to inform the design of innovative psychosocial interventions for older adults with age-associated cognitive changes and MCI. Psychosocial data on individuals with normal cognitive function and MCI, and on the family members of people with MCI and AD can be integrated with information from the Clinical, Neuroimaging and Neuropathology Core evaluations and become the basis for new studies in the affiliated Psychosocial Research Program. The breadth of research on psychosocial interventions is a defining attribute of the NYU-ADC, and the Psychosocial Core will continue to provide resources for research to understand and mitigate the psychosocial impact of memory loss associated with both normal aging and disease.
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