application): The primary purpose of the proposed training program is to provide advanced training for conducting descriptive and analytic epidemiologic studies on the health and well-being of the elderly. The broad orientation of the program is that of psychosocial epidemiology which combines concepts and techniques from the social and behavioral sciences with the rigorous application of quantitative epidemiologic methods. A significant element of the program is achieving a balance between biomedical/geriatric and epidemiologic/social science perspectives. The program is committed to longitudinal study designs, intervention research, and to the use of natural experiments. The interplay of clinical/biomedical and social/psychological influences on health provides the conceptual focus of this interdisciplinary training. Primary disciplines represented are: social and health psychology, medical sociology, psychiatry, medicine, epidemiology, and biostatistics. The emphasis is on advanced training and training is tailor-made for each trainee. The primary method of training is the closely supervised research experience in the context of existing research programs and studies being carried out by the training faculty. Trainees are strongly encouraged to be involved in the data collection and data analysis phases of research. The proposed three pre-doctoral trainees will be primarily Ph.D. candidates in chronic disease epidemiology. The proposed four post-doctoral trainees will be: (1) epidemiologists who need much greater familiarity and research experience with the topic of aging; (2) Ph.D.'s from other disciplines, e.g., medical sociology, social psychology, demography, biostatistics, who need some additional training in epidemiologic methods and research experience with the topic of aging as they redirect their careers toward epidemiology; and (3) those with relevant clinical training and experience, e.g. geriatric medicine, geriatric psychiatry, clinical psychology, who need to significantly sharpen their general research skills and learn enough epidemiology and biostatistics to switch from a primarily clinical to research career.
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