The University Of Texas At Austin: What Starts Here Changes The World
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2002 News

$2.6 million Awarded For Older Adult Memory Research

The following article is reproduced from the July/August 2001 issue of The Alcalde.

It happens to all of us: car keys you can’t find, a name you can’t remember, the appointment you forgot to keep. For most of us, these instances of normal forgetfulness are simply an irritating part of daily life. For the aging adult, however, a continuing pattern of memory loss can have a much greater impact.

Although some memory loss is a result of normal aging, many older adults interpret that loss as dementia. Those who have less confidence in their ability to remember also have little, or no, confidence they can do anything to improve it. This lack of self-efficacy—the belief in your own ability to make changes—can lead to an actual decline in memory, a decline that may eventually hinder an older person’s ability to live on their own.

“Older adults want to live independently in the community for as long as possible,” says Graham McDougall, a UT nursing associate professor. “Distress about failing cognitive abilities may lead to depression, anxiety and functional impairment.” And severe impairment could, in turn, lead to long-term care. With a projected 52.1 million people in the United States age 65 years and older by the year 2020, the potential impact on our society is significant. This spring, the National Institute of Aging/National Institutes of Health awarded McDougall a $2.6 million dollar grant to test a psychosocial intervention in the study “Improving Everyday Memory in At Risk Elderly.”

To continue living independently, older adults must be able to perform important daily functions—remembering to take medications, preparing adequate meals, managing money and using the telephone. The decline in memory performance that often occurs between the ages of 65 and 85 can result in problems that affect this level of independent functioning. According to McDougall, 80 percent of the cognitive complaints from millions of older people in the United States are memory-related, and seniors often think they are incapable of improving their cognitive abilities.

During four previous pilot studies, McDougall developed his cognitive behavioral memory interventions that raise both memory performance and memory self-efficacy. In the current study, the memory intervention will be tested against a health promotion intervention, and the participants will be followed over the next five years.

“Older adults are capable of improving their memory,” McDougall explains, “but whether a psychosocial intervention may assist them to improve or maintain their daily activities over time isn’t known.” It’s this focus on everyday memory, the day-to-day operations of memory in real-world ordinary situations and not in a laboratory setting, that McDougall says offers the opportunity to build confidence based on real performance. “The more they are able to remember, the more confident they will feel about their ability to remember,” he notes.

Participants for the study will be recruited from a sample of 240 African-American, Caucasian and Mexican-American men and women, age 65 and older, living independently in Travis County. Sites chosen for recruiting include the Veteran’s Administration Clinic, retirement facilities and senior apartment complexes. Each participant will participate in an 8-session, 1-1/2 hour classroom course followed by several “booster” sessions. The participants will be tested in face-to-face interviews on five occasions over a 27-month period for data collection.

The memory problems older adults list as most troublesome could be on everyone’s list: faces and names, dates, telephone numbers, recent and past events, and directions. Those elders most at risk for memory loss tend to be older than 75 years, live alone, be a racial minority, be female, and/or never have completed high school. “My grandmother had Alzheimer’s,” McDougall states. “It influenced my choice of research topics. And in 1980, working on my Master’s degree, I was offered a fellowship by the National Institute of Mental Health, so now I’ve spent 20 years researching mental health and aging.”

As noted in other cognitive research, education and challenging environments are important means of remaining mentally fit for people of any age. “Any individual will thrive,” McDougall adds, “if they’re challenged within their capabilities—and intellectual challenges help people stay connected to the world.” —Mary McLendon