School of Nursing partnership launches new center to evaluate dementia care

The School of Nursing is partnering with three other schools to establish a center that will test the effectiveness of dementia care interventions.

The new center, called the Establishing Mechanisms of Benefit to Reinforce the Alzheimer’s Care Experience (EMBRACE) AD/ADRD Roybal Center, aims to successfully implement care options outside of healthcare organizations and test cases. The center’s primary goal is to test dementia care interventions and determine why those interventions work. 

The center was launched by a partnership between the Penn School of Nursing, the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions. It is supported by a five-year $5.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. 

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder, marked by the abnormal buildup of certain proteins, that causes brain cells to degenerate and eventually die. This negatively affects memory, behavior, social skills, and other cognitive tasks.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older currently live with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, the number of people aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s is projected to be 12.7 million.

The EMBRACE center will consist of at minimum six trials for understanding why dementia care interventions are effective. Specifically, the center will focus on a particular action, benefit, or behavioral change that is critical to the success of that mode of care. After identification of that key factor, the intervention method will be modified and tested for application in different settings and communities. 

EMBRACE’s Behavioral Intervention Development Core will be co-led by Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing Nancy Hodgson, who chairs the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences.

The Core will act as the scientific framework for EMBRACE. This includes mentorship as well as academic, scientific, and educational resources to those conducting non-pharmacological supporting interventions for dementia patients and their caregivers.

The center will also provide consultation and support to investigators who seek large-scale testing of their trials. Additionally, the center will offer educational resources, workshops, and opportunities for researchers seeking specifically to connect academic research and real-world interventions. 

“A clear understanding of how and why a supportive care program works is critical to moving a dementia care intervention from a clinical trial in the lab into the homes and communities of families affected by dementia,” Hodgson told the School of Nursing.

Hodgson is also the co-founder of the Palliative Care Program at the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center. It is one of the first nursing-home-based palliative care programs in the country and aims to help residents live as independently as medically possible.