The Demonstration and Information Dissemination Core (DIDC) of the Claude Pepper OAIC at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) will function in close association with the Connecticut Geriatric Education Center (CT-GEC), directed by RW Besdine, MD; he will also be the DIDC Core Leader. For fiscal and program efficiency, the DIDC will be physically co-located with the GEC in Travelers Center on Aging (TCA) administrative offices and share faculty and staff resources, Leslie Walker, MPH, an experienced educator and community-based investigator, will be DIDC Co-leader and ensure linkages with community sites of public and health professional users; Amy Frey, GEC and TCA librarian, will oversee information gathering and coordinate dissemination efforts.
Specific aims of the DIDC are to 1) Collect and categorize new clinically important research findings on independence promotion and disability prevention relevant to older adults emerging from studies at the UCHC OAIC, other OAICs and from other sites of pertinent investigations; 2) Digest, organize and package the research information gathered from investigators and from the literature (an aggregation of abstracts, published papers, proceedings and orla communications); 3) Disseminate findings to the public (targeting persons most likely to benefit from life style change) and to clinicians serving those at highest risk for functional loss; 4) Share UCHC OAIC findings on promoting independence with the larger research community studying function in and beyond the OAIC network; 5) Identify especially promising interventions from any source and demonstrate successful implementation of a feasible set for a group of older persons likely to benefit from any source and demonstrate successful implementation of a feasible set for a group of older persons likely to benefit from them; and 6) Facilitate application of independence-promoting research findings to public policy in health care for older persons, particularly through large employers and insurers. A major resource is the TCA, the University-wide center charged with conduct and oversight of research and teaching related to the well-being of older adults; although several post-degree and public education programs are already in place, as well as a broad community network of consumers and professionals focused on aging, emphasis on and funding for independence-promoting information dissemination is currently lacking. Support for the OAIC's DIDC will bring public and professional education and practice to a new level of expertise and focus in the region.
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