The Clinical Research Center of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center/Medical College of Pennsylvania is devoted to research on the mental health and psychopathology of older people in residential care. The original 3 years of the CRC focused on depression, while the proposed continuation will continue some of this research and move to include other problematic conditions such as mixed depression and dementia and early dementia. The continuation builds on the initial integration of biomedical and psychosocial themes as well as basic, applied, and intervention- research approaches. 8 pilot projects will be included. 4 will have a biomedical focus but all will have a clear behavioral component: A continuation of a program of research on the risks and side affects of psychoactive medication; a study of amino acid metabolism in the psychopathology of this age group; a study of HPA and immune functions; and a study of light in relation to phase advancement, sleep, and depression. The latter study also has a focus on the ecology of lighting in the institutional environment and is one of 5 with a major psychosocial focus. The others will investigate staff as a component of long-term care; staff and residents' readiness to engage in a program to enhance personal control; a study of the temporal relationships between physical health and affective states; and an ethnographic study of the experience and meaning of depression. These projects are supported by a Core with formal assessments of the near-universe of resident and newly-admitted people, a data base that generates its own research in addition to the pilots. Core and activities will enhance the ability of the CRC to generate new research, give supervised research experience to new scientists, and disseminate research and methodological knowledge to other scientists and practitioners. A program of seed-money funding and progress reviews conducted to stimulate new pilot projects is proposed.
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