SAS NEWS

Aging Studies Professor Appointed to Panel
Secretary of the Department of Elder Affairs Samuel Verghese appointed Kathryn Hyer, PhD, MPP, Professor in School of Aging Studies and Director of the Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging to be the DOEA representative on the Gold Seal Panel of the Governor's Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care. Her term is effective immediately and continues through December 2017. The Gold Seal panel determines which nursing homes are given the Gold Seal, the highest quality rating for nursing homes in Florida. The panel monitors and enforces the standards for excellence in nursing home care. Dr. Hyer conducts research on nursing home quality and teaches in the School of Aging Studies BS in Long-term care administration program.

Florida website takes mystery out of choosing quality assisted living facilities
WFLA-TV
"It's a very big step, and we're one of the few states that do that," said USF Professor Kathryn Hyer who runs the Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging. "This is a brand new important first step."

Drs. Jennifer Bugos & Jerri Edwards Receive National Endowment for the Arts Grant
Jerri Edwards, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, is a Co-Investigator on a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant with Principal Investigator, Jennifer Bugos, PhD, Assistant Professor of Music Education, College of the Arts. Their study will examine the effects of piano training on the cognitive performance and psychosocial well-being of older adults. Not only does music have a well-recognized impact on an individual's emotional state, research shows that music training may also improve brain plasticity, potentially mitigating the effects of an aging brain, preventing cognitive decline and/or improving psychological health.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. In partnership with the Hillsborough County Department of Aging Services, Drs. Bugos and Edwards will employ a randomized, controlled trial study design, comparing such outcome variables as verbal fluency, working memory, mood, self-efficacy, and physiological stress in older adults who receive piano training versus older adults who receive either computer-based auditory training or no treatment at all.

Aging Studies Professor Authors Section of New Resource
The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) has just released its newest resource for health educators and trainers, "Caring for Older Adults in Disasters: A Curriculum for Health Professionals." Developed through the support of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Caring for Older Adults in Disasters (COAD) curriculum is comprised of 7 modules covering topics ranging from special considerations for older adults in specific types of disasters to ethical and legal issues related to the care of the senior population during a disaster. Dr. Kathryn Hyer is the author of Lesson 5-4 "Skilled Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living Facilities" within Module 5 Special Consideration for Older Adults.

Houston sees spike in murder-suicides over 2 years
Houston Chronicle
Donna Cohen, a professor at the University of South Florida and an expert on aging issues, believes there may be parallels...

Murder-suicides among elderly driven by illness, depression
News-JournalOnline.com
"It's a killing out of depression and desperation, which is usually why the killer kills themselves as well," said Donna Cohen, a professor at the University of South Florida who has studied aging for about 40 years.

Dr. Jerri Edwards, Associate Professor in the School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, is a Co-Investigator on a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant with Principal Investigator, Dr. Jennifer Bugos, Assistant Professor of Music Education, College of the Arts. Their study will examine the effects of piano training on the cognitive performance and psychosocial well-being of older adults.  Not only does music have a well-recognized impact on an individual’s emotional state, research shows that music training may also improve brain plasticity, potentially mitigating the effects of an aging brain, preventing cognitive decline and/or improving psychological health.

Dr. Edwards, whose research focuses on how cognitive abilities can be maintained and even enhanced with advancing age, investigates cognitive training strategies to help older adults to avoid or at least delay functional difficulties.  Dr. Edwards is a Principal Investigator of the USF Cognitive Aging Lab, a team of six scientists, four doctoral students, and seven undergraduate research assistants. Together, their goal is to improve the effectiveness of cognitive training techniques to promote health, well-being, and independence among older adults.

Dr. Bugos examines the neurological basis for music perception and cognition with regard to human development, lifespan learning, and cognitive transfer.   A previously funded grant from the Retirement Research Foundation, “Bimanual Coordination on Successful Aging: Results of a Model Music Program,” found that music training significantly enhanced processing speed, verbal fluency, and cognitive control for the participants in the study, who were healthy older adults ages 60-85. 

This NEA award will support a study of the impact of piano training on cognitive, psychosocial, and neurophysiological dimensions of well-being in older adults in the community. Partnering with the Hillsborough County Department of Aging Services, Drs. Bugos and Dr. Edwards will conduct a randomized, controlled trial study, examining the effects of the training on verbal fluency, working memory, mood, self-efficacy, and physiological stress.  Research has suggested that playing an instrument, particularly piano practice, engages multiple brain areas, reinforcing the ability to perform multi-task functions.  Adults 60 to 80 years of age who are interested in participating in the study should contact the USF Music and Research Testing Lab at (813) 517-9625.

The College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida enrolls nearly 2,200 students and includes the Departments of Child and Family Studies, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Criminology, Mental Health Law and Policy, and the Schools of Aging Studies and Social Work. The School of Aging Studies, established in 1967, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest degree-awarding programs in Gerontology, and its Ph.D. in Aging Studies program, which began in 1994, has gained national prominence.

The School of Music in the College of the Arts has distinguished artist faculty, ensembles that perform regularly at state, regional and national music events, an exceptional jazz studies program, one of the most complete electronic music studios in the nation (SYCOM), a visionary music education program, and an environment that boasts a wide range of excellent cultural activities

Foster Grandparent School Supplies Donation Drive
The Student Association for Aging Studies (SAAS) is partnering with Seniors of Service in Tampa Bay, Inc. to support the Foster Grandparent program. Foster Granparents are older adults (55+) who volunteer their time, love, and wisdom to children in need by entering the classroom and aiding teachers and young students to achieve their academic best and personal success. SAAS will be holding a school supply donation drive between September 28th and October 26th. The collected items will go to a few classrooms and children in need in the surrounding Tampa Bay area. Donation locations are in the School of Aging Studies, MHC 1300.

Aging Studies Associate Professor to Consult in Slovenia

Debra Dobbs, PhD, received funding from the Republic of Slovenia for a Cooperative International grant as a partner with researchers from the Mediterranean Institute For Advanced Studies (MEDIFAS), housed in the Primorska Technology Park on the border between Slovenia and Italy. The Principal Investigator from MEDIFAS from Slovenia is Dr. Marija Bogataj, Professor of Operations of Research and Statistics at the University of Ljubljana, and a founding member of MEDIFAS. Dr. Dobbs will be traveling to Portoroz, Slovenia this month to present some of her research to the scientific community and consult on the project. The objective of this project is to introduce the model for planning of long-term care services and housing for older adults in Slovenia, based on a multiple decrement model.

Aging Studies Faculty Receive NIA Grant

Stacey Scott, PhD, and Alyssa Gamaldo, PhD, were recently awarded a two-year National Institute on Aging R03. This R03 leverages data from the Effects of Stress on Cognitive Aging, Physiology, and Emotion (ESCAPE; NIA R01AG039409 PI: Sliwinski) study to test predictions about how stress explains health disparities in an economically and racially diverse sample using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design. Drs. Scott and Gamaldo's secondary data analysis project provides added value to the original study through its novel aims and use of existing data to obtain objective metrics of childhood SES and current disease burden. The study is expected to advance and expand understanding of how SES disadvantage results in wide disparities in health. Such knowledge has the potential to direct interventions to the chronic stress pathways most predictive of daily and long-term health.

Aging Studies Grad Student Receives NIA Dissertation Grant

Elise Valdes, a PhD candidate in the School of Aging Studies earned an National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (NIA) R36 dissertation grant to study auditory cognitive training among older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

New Director of the School of Aging Studies Named
Brent Small, PhD, will be appointed to Director of the School of Aging Studies for a three-year term, effective August 7th. Dr. Small takes over from Dr. Cathy McEvoy who served two three-year terms as the director of the school. Dr. Small has been at USF since 1997, his initial appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gerontology. Dr. Small has served on numerous committees in the School of Aging Studies, the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences and at the university-level. Dr. Small is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the Gerontological Society of America. He has received several undergraduate teaching awards at USF and was recognized with the Margret Baltes Award in 2004 for his early career contributions in social and behavioral gerontology. His research focuses on memory and cognition in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease, as well as following treatment for cancer.

Hospice care may start later for patients in assisted living
FOX News Network
Sometimes hospice begins too late to provide enough time for optimal support and pain management, said Debra Dobbs, a researcher in aging at the University of South Florida in Tampa who wasn't involved in the study.

Aging Studies Associate Professor Part of USF Team Studying Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment
Hongdao Meng, PhD, will be a member of a team of researchers from USF Health and Moffitt Cancer Center that received more than $2.8 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study memory and concentration among breast cancer survivors using a meditation-based stress reduction intervention. During the five-year study, the researchers will evaluate mindfulness-based stress reduction for breast cancer (MBSR (BC)) to determine if the intervention improves objective and subjective cognitive functioning among breast cancer survivors. This non-pharmacological stress reduction program involves group interaction and practice techniques, including sitting and walking meditation, yoga and body scan. Read more...

Aging Studies Director Featured by the Gerontological Society of America
Brent Small, PhD, was featured on the website of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Small was recently elected to the Member-at-Large position in the Behavioral and Society Sciences section and will begin his term in November at the annual conference, this year in Orlando. The Gerontological Society of America is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. GSA's principal mission is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public.

Grant Gives Boost To USF Geriatric Training
WUSF News - University of South Florida
Collaborators include the USF Health colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute and the USF School of Aging Studies.

USF Nursing receives $2.8 million NIH grant to study breast cancer survivors
An interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Cecile Lengacher will study whether mindfulness-based stress reduction reduces chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment

Tampa, FL (July 14, 2015) –The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded more than $2.8 million to University of South Florida College of Nursing to study memory and concentration among breast cancer survivors using a meditation-based stress reduction intervention.

Cecile Lengacher, PhD, professor and pre-doctoral fellowship program director at the USF College of Nursing, will lead a team of researchers from USF Health and Moffitt Cancer Center to study the “Efficacy of MBSR treatment of cognitive impairment among breast cancer survivors.” Dr. Lengacher and her team will study 300 breast cancer survivors from Moffitt Cancer Center and the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare.

During the five-year study, researchers will evaluate mindfulness-based stress reduction for breast cancer (MBSR (BC)) to determine if the intervention improves objective and subjective cognitive functioning among breast cancer survivors. This non-pharmacological stress reduction program involves group interaction and practice techniques, including sitting and walking meditation, yoga and body scan. Researchers will use a three-group randomized design to test the outcome and will deliver it in English and Spanish. Dr. Lengacher has used MBSR (BC) in a previous study, and preliminary data showed positive results.

Breast cancer survivors will participate in a six-week intervention and will be assessed at baseline, six weeks, 12 weeks and six months. The assessments will include clinical histories, demographics, objective neuropsychological and subjective cognitive tests, symptom measurements and blood samples.

“Breast cancer survivors who have undergone through chemotherapy and radiation often experience a condition called chemo brain, which effects memory and concentration,” Dr. Lengacher said. “Our goal is to test MBSR (BC) in a randomized controlled trial to determine if the intervention is an effective treatment for memory and cognitive functioning. Positive results would increase quality of life for survivors and provide evidence for better, more effective and less costly treatment of this condition.”

According to American Cancer Society (ACS), there are currently about 14.5 million cancer survivors in the United States. More than 25 percent suffer from a “mental fog” or chemo brain. ACS shows that survivors may have cognitive impairment problems six months to 10 years after treatment.

Dr. Lengacher will conduct the study with a team of researchers from USF Health and Moffitt Cancer Center, including Kevin Kip, PhD, distinguished USF Health professor; Carmen Rodriguez, PhD, assistant professor at USF Nursing; Branko Miladinovic, PhD, assistant professor at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Richard Reich, PhD, associate professor at USF Sarasota-Manatee; Hongdao Meng, PhD, associate professor at the USF School of Aging Studies; Heather Jim, PhD, and Jong Park, PhD, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center.

“We’re excited to receive this significant grant from NIH to study breast cancer survivors,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, senior associate vice president of USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing. “I’m proud to lead a college that’s transforming health care and transforming lives.”

The study is supported by NCI, part of National Institute of Health (NIH). NCI supports cancer research, training, health, and information dissemination. NCI is part of NIH’s 27 institutes and centers that support and conduct clinical and basic science research on health and illness. For more information about NIH and NCI visit http://www.cancer.gov/.
USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu.

Aging Studies Faculty Receive R03 Grant from the National Cancer Institute

Stacey Scott, PhD, and Brent Small, PhD, with colleagues Drs. Paul Jacobsen, Heather Jim, and Susan Minton from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, received a National Cancer Institute R03 grant to study daily cognitive function among breast cancer survivors. Cognitive impairment is one of the most common Quality of Life (QOL) complaints among breast cancer survivors; as many as 70% report memory loss and difficulty concentrating, however, objective tests of cognitive function typically show only 15% - 25% of survivors are impaired based on normative criteria. To address the various issues that may contribute to this discrepancy, data will be collected from breast cancer survivors who were treated with chemotherapy. Cognitive functioning will be assessed in these individuals using self-report questionnaires and neuropsychological instruments as well as with daily diary reports of memory failures, and cognitive tasks administered as 'brain games' on smartphones across a 14-day period. Innovations in mobile data collection allow for real-time capture of objective cognitive performance and subjective cognitive complaints.

This two-year R03 will leverage the foundational work from the team's American Cancer Society-Institutional Research Grant (ACS-IRG) from Moffitt awarded early this year and equipment support from the College of Behavioral Community Sciences to purchase study smartphones.

a Ph.D. Student in the USF School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, in successfully defending her dissertation "Mediation and Moderation Analysis of Nutrition, Inflammatory Biomarkers, and Cognition in Older Adults", on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Some of the best meals are at ALFs
Ocala.com
Most view themselves as providing a home environment," said Dr. Kathryn Hyer, associate director of the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. "So restaurant-style dining wouldn't be so different.

Dr. Ross Andel, School of Aging Studies in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida (USF) has been awarded Visiting Professor status at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, by Charles University’s President/Rector Tomas Zima.  A long-time collaborator with colleagues from the Czech Brain Ageing Study and other Czech researchers, Dr. Andel has contributed to the development of multiple research projects in the Czech Republic and to publication of about two dozen articles using data collected in the Czech Republic, including research on early identification of cognitive impairment. He has also hosted numerous Czech scholars in the USF School of Aging Studies and, in the past year, sent two doctoral students from the School of Aging Studies to work with colleagues in the Czech Republic. 

Dr. Andel (left), shown here with Vladimir Komarek, Professor and Dean of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, remarks “Being born and raised in the Czech Republic, I feel very fortunate to have been able to contribute to research and academic activities in the Czech Republic for the past decade or so. This recognition of my efforts by the 2nd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University is very special to me.”

In addition, Dean Komarek signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the USF and Charles University, which was also signed by USF Provost Ralph Wilcox. This should lead to further research and academic exchange efforts, as well as joint applications for external funding of research.”

Founded in 1348, Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. It was the first university in Central Europe and ranks in the upper 1.5 percent of the world’s best universities.  Together with the associated Motol Faculty Hospital, the 2nd Medical Faculty is the most modern health center and center of health education in the Czech Republic, offering pre-graduate and postgraduate education to students, doctors and other professional staff working in all fields of medicine.  It is also home of a number of specialized teams, some of them unique in Central-European context (e.g., paediatric cardiology, children's cochlear centre).

For more information about this and other work by Dr. Andel, contact him at randel@usf.edu.   For more information on the School of Aging Studies, see the website.  For more information regarding the Charles University of Prague, see its website.

Serving nearly 48,000 students, the University of South Florida is one of the largest public universities in the nation, and among the top 50 universities, public or private, for federal research expenditures. The College of Behavioral & Community Sciences serves more than 2,600 students with six undergraduate, nine masters, and five doctoral programs housed in seven academic departments/schools. Its School of Aging Studies, established in 1967, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest degree-awarding programs in Gerontology, and its Ph.D. in Aging Studies program, which began in 1994, has gained national prominence.

SAS-Studying the Link between Nutrition and Alcohol in Aging Adults

Senior housing transitions can lead to stigma and isolation
The News Daily
The Metlife Mature Market 2012 Survey of long term care costs lists some useful questions to ask when looking for a nursing home or assisted living, said Debra Dobbs of the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, a co-investigator on the study.

Herald Tribune-Experts on aging see longevity as an opportunity 

CBCS Students Win Undergraduate Research Awards

Nina Dearwater, a Long Term Care Administration major in the School of Aging Studies and the President the USF Chapter of the Sigma Phi Omega Gerontology Honor's Society and Kacey Renfroe from the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders were selected as one of the winners of the 2015 Undergraduate Research and Arts Colloquium. The two students along with Assistant Librarian Andrew Smith presented an oral presentation entitled "Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys Genealogical Research". The project was inspired and foreshadowed the work of Dr. Erin Kimmerle and her research team in finding the remains of young boys who were buried at the Dozier School for Boys. This project focused strictly on identifying the nearest living relatives of the deceased boys based on private documentation as well as investigation of public records for the purpose of matching DNA once suspected relatives are identified.

2015 Undergraduate Research in Physiology Award

Undergraduate Neurophysiology of Aging lab research assistant, Anthony Asta, has been selected as the recipient of the 2015 Undergraduate Research in Physiology Award for his Undergraduate Colloquium poster entitled, Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in Individuals with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment. Mr. Asta works with Dr. Aryn Harrison Bush of the School of Aging Studies and Dr. Jennifer Lister of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Anthony will be recognized at an awards luncheon on April 23rd. As an award winner he will receive a packet of items from the American Physiology Society, $100 and a certificate of accomplishment.

Outstanding Staff Awards
Three CBCS Staff Receive 2014 USF Outstanding Staff Awards

The College of Behavioral and Community Sciences is proud to announce that three internal candidates were selected as university-wide recipients of the 2014 USF Outstanding Staff Awards. Alberto Delgado (Dean's Office), Gail Smith (School of Aging Studies), and Keri Uravich (Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders) have all demonstrated excellence in their jobs and a willingness to go above and beyond in helping co-workers, faculty, and students. The Awards Ceremony was held on April 9, 2015 in the USF School of Music Concert Hall

Congratulations to all. 

Alberto Delgado
Building and Security Assistant
Dean's Office

Alberto Delgado has served the faculty and staff of the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences in many ways during his time as a building and security assistant. From furniture repair to key distribution, he brings a "greater level of technical proficiency" to the building team, says Patricia Cleveland, Assistant Director.
"Alberto is primarily responsible making sure our classrooms are set-up and ready to go for our students and instructors. This is a huge job," says Cleveland. "Alberto has such an optimistic attitude. He always has a smile on his face and is constantly assisting others."Dr. Brianne Stanback, an Instructor in the School of Aging Studies, adds that Delgado's work goes beyond the classroom. "Mr. Delgado has helped my classes and all the special events I coordinate run well. He has solved any range of technical issues, brought extra white boards, and reconfigured rooms, sometimes on short notice."

Delgado continually ensures classrooms and offices are ready for use across CBCS and does so with ease and optimism. In his 5 years as a part of CBCS, Alberto has become an irreplaceable part of the team.

Gail Smith
Coordinator of Faculty and Student Services
School of Aging Studies
As the sole advisor for the School of Aging Studies, Gail Smith has her hands full. She has been with the School of Aging Studies for more than 25 years, serving in both the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences. She constantly advises students, helps develop tracking forms for majors and minors, and serves as a liaison between faculty and students while being mindful of the impact she has during her individual sessions.

CBCS Associate Dean Dr. Catherine Batsche commends Smith for her detailed tracking and placement of students in courses that fill multiple requirements, helping students to graduate on-time and without unnecessary credits.

"Upon assuming the advising responsibilities for the Behavioral Healthcare major, Ms. Smith completely revitalized all the major information and degree audit forms that students are given," said Batsche, thus creating a more streamlined process.

Keri Uravich
Academic Advisor
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Keri Uravich joined the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders in 2013, where she helped fill a desperate need for an advisor to nearly 500 undergraduate students.

"Keri has been indispensable from the moment she arrived," says Dr. Jennifer Lister, CSD professor and Interim Chair. "I have seen Keri go to great lengths for students. She is always accessible to them but also takes time to brainstorm new ideas with me."

Andrea Smith, Co-Undergraduate Program Director and Interpreter Training Program Director in CSD also has the highest praise for Uravich. "She maintains a positive and supportive attitude in every interaction she has. She is innovative and works collaboratively to resolve issues quickly and efficiently."

"I don't know how she does it," says Lister, "but she does it all with grace."

School of Aging Studies Holds Annual Preceptor Reception

Each year the School of Aging Studies Awards scholarships to outstanding students in the field of Gerontology. During this year's reception, held April 7th, 20156, the following scholarship awards were given:

Amanda Jones - Harold L. Sheppard Endowed Memorial Scholarship in Gerontology
Kathy Turben - Kymberly Jane Harris Endowed Scholarship in Long Term Care Administration
Fladjy Revolus - Tollette Family Endowed Scholarship in Gerontology
Victoria Marino - Wiley P. Mangum Scholarship
Sarah Eisel - H. Edward and Mildred E. Greely Endowed Fellowship in Aging Studies
The School of Aging Studies also honors faculty that have shown outstanding teaching and service in the field of Gerontology. This year's faculty awards were given to:

Gail Smith - Wiley P. Mangum Outstanding Service Award in the Field of Gerontology
Jill Smith - Outstanding Teaching Award in the Field of Gerontology
In addition to the faculty awards Lisa Milne received the 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award

Fla. Nursing Home Residents Given Risky Dementia Drugs
TheLedger.com
A usage rate that far surpasses state and national averages should be considered a red flag indicative of less-than-optimal care, but nursing homes that accept a large number of mentally ill residents could have a higher number, said Victor Molinari, a professor of aging at the University of South Florida.

This Daily Habit May Cause a Deadly Stroke
MensHealth.com
Drinking too much alcohol during your middle-age years can raise your future stroke risk, finds new research from the University of South Florida... When most people experience a stroke, they have the ischemic kind, which is due to clogged and blocked arteries, says study coauthor Ross Andel, Ph.D.

Undergraduate Neurophysiology of Aging lab research assistant, Anthony Asta, has been selected as the recipient of the 2015 Undergraduate Research in Physiology Award for his Undergraduate Colloquium poster entitled, Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in Individuals with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment. Mr. Asta works with Dr. Aryn Harrison Bush of the School of Aging Studies and Dr. Jennifer Lister of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Anthony will be recognized at an awards luncheon on April 23rd. As an award winner he will receive a packet of items from the American Physiology Society, $100 and a certificate of accomplishment. Congratulations Anthony!

Memory issues often emerge post retirement. There are many reasons given as to why memory fails as we age; however, it appears that work-related stress and lack of meaningful work does affect more than just our physical health.  A recent study by Dr. Ross Andel, School of Aging Studies, and colleagues Frank Infurna, Arizona State University, Elizabeth Hahn Rickenbach, Saint Anselm College, Michael Crowe, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lisa Marchiondo, Wayne State University, and Gwenith Fisher, Colorado State University, found that job demands were associated with significantly poorer episodic memory at retirement and an accelerated rate of decline in episodic memory following retirement.  Job demands are defined as a combination of work-related stress and intellectual engagement/challenge at work. 

This study is the first longitudinal study that examined work-related stress in relation to cognitive ageing while also taking into consideration the role of retirement.  Using data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, they examined 3779 individuals who had been employed for 10 or more years prior to retirement and who had been assessed for episodic memory performance every other year for up to 20 years, including after retirement.  Data from the Occupational Information Network was used to score occupations for job control and job demands, and to measure job strain (job demands/job control).  Participants averaged 63 years of age at retirement, which closely corresponds to the current average retirement age in the United States. 

Dr. Andel and colleagues found that persons who experienced lower job control and greater job strain had steeper episodic memory decline, especially postretirement, independent of relevant confounds.  Women and men experienced similar declines in relation to work-related stress.

According to Dr. Andel, “There are two plausible explanations: First, it is known that the hippocampus is critical for memory functioning. Long-term exposure to work-related stress can affect lead to the reduction in hippocampal activity due to the response to stress generated by the endocrine system. Second, people with low work-related stress are better at preparing themselves for retirement psychologically and by staying mentally active, which can lead to better postretirement trajectories of cognitive change.”

“This link has important implications for job design and the development of interventions to maintain or increase memory prior to and postretirement,” Dr. Andel said.  “For example, finding meaningful roles and opportunities for self-direction among workers with high levels of work-related stress may lead to better postretirement outcomes.”  The more an individual is connected to the belief that his or work matters, the better he or she copes with stress.

For more information on this and other work by Dr. Andel, please see his website or email him at randel@usf.edu.

Andel, R., Infurna, F. J., Hahn Rickenbach, E. A., Crowe, M., Marchiondo, L., & Fisher, G. G. (2015). Job strain and trajectories of change in episodic memory before and after retirement: results from the Health and Retirement Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.  Advance online publication.  doi:10.1136/jech-2014-204754  Available at http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2015/01/20/jech-2014-204754.long (may require subscription).

The School of Aging Studies, one of the nation's oldest and largest degree-awarding programs in Gerontology, is one of seven academic departments/schools in the College of Behavioral & Community Sciencesat the University of South Florida, in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Bill Haley, of the School of Aging Studies, with colleagues Drs. David Roth, Johns Hopkins University, and Martha Hovater and Olivio Clay, University of Alabama at Birmingham, have published a seminal study on the long-term impact of stroke on family caregiver well-being. 
 
Their paper, published in the Neurology, shows that family caregivers of people with stroke report high levels of depression, and diminished life satisfaction and quality of life in comparison to non-caregiving controls in the months just after their family member has a stroke. However, caregivers’ mental health and quality of life improve over time, and by three years post-stroke, caregivers are comparable to non-caregiving controls in their mental health and quality of life. The findings are consistent with a theme that family caregivers show considerable resilience in response to caregiving stress. Further, the use of a population-based sample enhances the generalizability of the results, and provides the researchers the opportunity to further analyze the data.  Dr. Haley sees additional analyses as important, “Future reports from our group will address individual differences in caregiver well-being over time.  We plan to use a stress process model of caregiving to evaluate changes in stressors, appraisals, social support, and other coping resources.  Future work also will examine whether race and sex affect individual differences in caregiver stress and coping over time.”
This paper, and its findings, is deemed important enough to be accompanied by an Editorial in Neurology, which praises the paper for bringing new methodological rigor to the study of stroke caregiving.   Editors Jill Cameron and Timothy Elliot, write that the research by Haley et al. meets the challenge for methodologic rigor, using advanced statistical analyses to elucidate differences between caregiving and non-caregiving samples.  Hence, “Haley et al. substantially advance our understanding of poststroke care and its influence on caregiver health outcomes.”  Further, the editors suggest that the methods used by Dr. Haley and colleagues should be emulated in future studies of caregivers of stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other neurologic disorders.
To learn more about Dr. Haley’s work, visit his webpage or email him at whaley@usf.edu.

To read the abstract of the article, see the abstract in PubMed.

Haley, W. E., Roth, D. L., Hovater, M., & Clay, O. J. (2015). Long-term impact of stroke on family caregiver well-being: A population-based case-control study. Neurology, 84(13), 1323-1329.  doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000001418

 Ph.D. student in the USF School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, in successfully defending her dissertation “The Impact of Veterans Health Administration's Home Based Primary Care on Health Series Use Expenditures and Mortality,” on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

SAS Holds Careers in Aging Network Event

On March 18th, the School of Aging Studies held their yearly Careers in Aging Networking Event. Many students attended the event, and were given the opportunity to network with different organizations and agencies from all over the Tampa Bay Area. Agencies included nursing homes, communities, USF based organizations, and many more. The agencies and organizations asked the students questions about future goals, career plans, and about fitting into the organization or agency. The students could network with the participating agencies for potential employment, internships, and different volunteer opportunities. The event gave the students the chance to enhance resumes, and gain different experiences such as, volunteering at one of the agencies. Many students came ready to network, and excited to learn, and several students got great advice that has already led to many new directions.

Your Good News: Awards and Honors From Clubs & Organizations Around Polk
TheLedger.com
Recently, The Estates at Carpenters, a not-for-profit Continuing Care Retirement Community, hosted Jerri D. Edwards, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of South Florida's School of Aging Studies, who provided seniors with information on the effectiveness of brain training among older adults.