Integration of Digital Technology in Research Involving Older Adults: Lessons from Community-Based Trials

Chair(s)

• HH

  Hae-Ra Han, PhD

  Professor
  School of Nursing
  Johns Hopkins University
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• DM

  Deborah Min, MPH

  Project Coodinator
  Department of Population Health
  NYU Grossman School of Medicine
  New York, New York, United States
• 

  Catherine Clair, MHS

  PhD student
  Health, Behavior and Society
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• MA

  Martha Abshire Saylor, PhD, RN

  Assistant Professor
  School of Nursing
  Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 

  Nada Lukkahatai, PhD. RN.

  Assistant Professor
  School of Nursing
  Johns Hopkins University
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Working with study participants in community-based clinical trials during COVID-19 pandemic has created diverse challenges to study teams. Globally, COVID-related restrictions were implemented including country-wide lockdowns and social distancing, and study teams had to quickly adjust their study protocols to work in a virtual environment. Meeting virtually for recruitment activities or intervention delivery may be particularly challenging when the target group is older adults—one of the vulnerable populations to experience the digital divide due to limited digital access and limited digital literacyThis symposium covers the lessons learned related to use of digital technology in participant recruitment and intervention delivery across a range of populations, including community-dwelling Korean American older adults to African American older women living with pain and low mood, caregivers of persons living with heart failure, and low-income cancer survivors with multiple chronic conditions. The discussion will include 1) findings from screening over 1,000 older Korean Americans to enroll them into a multi-site community-based trial, 2) lessons in diversifying intervention delivery methods to African American older women, 3) the integration of virtual modality into a self-care and social support intervention for caregivers of persons with heart failure, and 4) the deployment of mHealth to deliver a home-based exercise program to ethnically diverse low-income cancer survivors with co-morbid conditions in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. This symposium seeks to build the evidence related to recruitment and intervention delivery targeting diverse groups of older adults in community settings using technology by sharing common challenges, experiences, and opportunities.

Presentations:

• 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

  Web-Enabled Recruitment Strategies for Community-Dwelling Older Adults
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Deborah Min, MPH – NYU Grossman School of Medicine
• 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

  Depression and Pain Perseverance Through Empowered Recovery (DAPPER) Pilot Program: A Case Study on Technology
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Catherine A. Clair, MHS – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

  When and Where: Lessons Learned About Technology From an Intervention for Caregivers of Persons With Heart Failure
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Martha Abshire Saylor, PhD, RN – Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
• 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

  Challenges and Solutions for Mobile Health Intervention Research in Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Nada Lukkahatai, PhD. RN. – Johns Hopkins University