Session: Dementia Research In Social Work Using the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development: Basic Science through Preliminary Efficacy (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

Schedule:

Saturday, January 23, 2027: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM

Golden Gate 5 (Hilton San Francisco Union Square)

Cluster: Aging Services and Gerontology

Symposium Organizer:

Shannon R. Power, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

Discussant:

Quinton Cotton, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development (Onkin, 2022) provides a formal organization through which social workers can advance intervention research to realize high impact. Scientific transparency can greatly improve the translation and funding potential of social work research. The Stage Model provides a blueprint for adding specificity of population-based inquiry, precise identification of outcomes, and clarity of behavioral change mechanisms, which is key to understanding what specifically causes an intervention to work. Useful across planning, evaluation, and implementation, the non-linear Stage Model’s goal is to enable “highly potent and maximally implementable" interventions. The formal model provides a common language and a roadmap to maximized effectiveness, efficacy, and potential fundability for NIH-familiar audiences.

Improving an intervention’s value through the NIH Stage Model is especially important for participants, who offer their time and energy to support scientific progress. For people and families living with dementia, precious time is shared in hopes that interventions improve their quality of life and well-being. The use of that limited intervention time should be spent on evidence-based components to ensure interventions are potent and not unnecessarily onerous. This symposium uses the NIH Stage Model to share four dementia intervention studies that represent formative science through feasibility and preliminary efficacy testing (Stages 0, 1A, 1B), demonstrating the progress of social work inquiry into Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). Each study has an innovative approach to technology inclusion that addresses the digitization of health care and caregiving. Along with sharing findings from their current research, presenters will discuss how their current work builds on previous NIH stages and informs future steps.

The first paper introduces a Stage 0 (basic research) focus group study on barriers and recommendations for a rural technology-enabled dementia care navigation intervention, exploring acceptability and appropriateness. The second paper showcases preliminary psychosocial benefits of a Stage 1A remote-delivered West African drumming intervention for people living with ADRD and their care partners. Dyadic inquiry continues in the two Stage 1B papers. Paper 3 details feasibility results of Harmony at HOME, a telehealth-delivered intervention in rural Appalachia for dementia dyads. Paper 4 will describe a mechanistic trial of the web-app intervention, Let’s Talk Tech, that empowers families to have decision-making conversations about technology use in dementia care.

The impact of gerontological social work research is maximized when early-stage intervention development and implementation is translated into a readily available and understandable format. While the four papers presented vary in geographic location, cultural relevance, and intervention method, the NIH Stage Model is a throughline to showing how lessons learned across dementia research can be transferrable. Further, the technological considerations of each paper demonstrate how intervention research in the field of aging remains innovative in an effort to improve health care access, literacy, and outcomes for underserved populations. Overall, the symposium presents how four gerontological social work scholars pursue intervention research that is aligned with the profession’s values and translated using the tools of the broader academic community.

* noted as presenting author

Rural Community-Engaged Development of Technology-Enabled Dementia Care Navigation Intervention
Shannon R. Power, PhD, University of Pittsburgh; Tiffany R. Washington, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Gaurav R. Sinha, PhD, University of Georgia; Sarah Saint Hamilton, PhD, University of Georgia; Jenay M. Beer, PhD, University of Georgia

Preliminary Impact of an African Drumming for Dementia Intervention on Psychosocial Outcomes In African Americans with Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Caregivers
Kyaien Conner, PhD, University of Pittsburgh; Nicole Crawford, DrPH, University of South Florida; Courtney Atkinson, MHS, The Johns Hopkins University

Enhancing Dementia Care In Rural Communities: A Stage 1B Feasibility Trial of a Telehealth Behavioral Intervention for Caregivers
Allison Gibson, PhD, Saint Louis University; Cara Wallace, PhD, LMSW, APHSW-C, Saint Louis University; Dimitra Galbierz, MSW, Saint Louis University

Mechanistic Trial of the "Let's Talk Tech" Dyadic Intervention to Support Person-Centered Decision Making about Technology Use
Clara Berridge, PhD, University of Washington; David Huh, PhD, University of Washington; William Lober, MD, University of Washington; Kimberley Bako, MPH, University of Washington; Melinda Schultz, MA, University of Washington; Karen Lyons, PhD, Boston College

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Session: Dementia Research In Social Work Using the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development: Basic Science through Preliminary Efficacy (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

218 Dementia Research In Social Work Using the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development: Basic Science through Preliminary Efficacy