EXTERNAL INNOVATION NETWORK CORE: PROJECT ABSTRACT/SUMMARY The overall goal of this External Innovative Network Core (EINC) is to develop innovative research networks on longitudinal investigations of healthy aging behaviors (HABs) that enhance research within CHABLIS and the broader research community. We will accomplish this through a) support of workshops and webinars; b) collaboration on pilot projects and grant applications; c) harmonization of data collection across studies and settings; and d) development and application of novel research resources (e.g., new survey instruments and approaches to data analysis). This will be achieved through the CHABLIS Research Network (CHABLIS-RN) that spans the Center?s activities. We will also engage in outreach activities that encourage and nurture the development and diversity of researchers engaged in CHABLIS, to underrepresented minorities, people with disabilities, and those from socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, and will provide technical assistance to researchers in using CHABLIS data and resources. To maximize CHABLIS? impact, we propose to build both CHABLIS-RN, that will span the Center?s range of activities, and more focused networks within CHABLIS-RN. As an example, we describe a Comprehensive Care Research Network (CCRN) within CHABLIS-RN that will promote research on the Comprehensive Care Physician (CCP) and Comprehensive Care Community and Culture (C4P) models. Findings to date suggest CCP/C4P have exceptional potential to address medical and unmet social needs of older adults at increased risk of hospitalization, with a broad range of research opportunities to better understand and maximize their potential impact on older adults. CCP/C4P also provide rich opportunities to connect to other longitudinal interventions to promote healthy aging, including a study we will soon begin of the effects of free dental care for older adults and an ongoing study of the effects of preemptive pharmacogenetic testing on prescribing and outcomes. One key goal is to introduce these novel data sources to demographers and economists whose interests lie in health care experiences, and the potential of the health care setting to address the myriad challenges related to socioeconomic disadvantage. Area-based studies such as CCP/C4P and national- representative population based projects like the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) differ in approach but, at their core, both aim to elucidate how, and to what extent, the social world matters for health. We believe too little is shared between clinically oriented studies such as CCP/C4P and nationally- representative social surveys such as NSHAP.
We aim to amend that through the work of CHABLIS-RN.
