Social Research | Institute of Gerontology

Several of the Institute's faculty are studying social aspects of aging. Their interests range from measuring the quality of medical care to studies on the effects of culture, economics, and religion on our aging population.

A large body of work is being conducted to improve long-term care issues including improving the delivery, affordability and quality of care in both home-based and institutional (i.e. nursing homes) settings. Work led by Dr. Fries has developed the National Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI), mandated by Congress to assess all residents in virtually all nursing homes in the U.S. His team recently published results showing that the RAI system directly improves the care and planning for nursing home residents. Dr. Fries and his team are currently working on revisions to the RAI instrument to help refine and improve its continued effectiveness. This instrument is also being adapted across the world and is currently being used or reviewed by 16 countries.

Work in the area of improving the cost-effectiveness of home and community based care has been led by Dr. Weissert, who recently retired. He and his colleagues evaluated the cost-effectiveness of Arizona's unique statewide capitated long-term care system showing that Arizona spent less by making an array of home and community care services available. The model of this system is expected to open a broad new line of inquiry into home care outcome studies. It suggests that home care alters patient, family and physician response to health status change rather than producing such change.

Along with issues of home and community care Dr. Verbrugge continues to look at the impact of nonfatal chronic conditions on the activities and quality of life. For example, people with chronic conditions can accommodate their activity to the condition, or resolve it by equipment or personal assistance.

Another group of collaborative studies by IoG faculty is being led by Drs. Liang, Krause and Blaum to compare studies of health, health care, and aging involving the U.S., Japan, Chinese Mainland, and Taiwan to test for cross-cultural comparability in the conceptualization and measurement of health-related quality of life. Dr. Liang's group is also constructing and evaluating measurement models of physical health, mental health, cognitive impairment, and social support within different populations. Other research efforts over the last several years have concentrated on two major studies aimed at assessing the physical and mental functioning and the impact of these changes on an individual's economic, family and formal care resources. These two projects, the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), and the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest-Old (AHEAD), are a nationwide study and now constitute a major research database in social gerontology.