Behavioral and Social Research Areas on Alzheimer's Disease
The National Institute on Aging's (NIA) Division of Behavioral and Social Research (BSR) supports research and initiatives on the social, behavioral, and economic factors pertaining to cognitive health and Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease related dementias (AD/ADRD) at both the population and individual levels. BSR is committed to advancing high-caliber science in a variety of disciplines, including demography, lifespan development, psychology, behavioral medicine, behavioral economics, sociology, interpersonal relationships, health services research, behavioral genetics, and social epidemiology to promote the health and wellbeing of persons living with AD/ADRD and their caregivers.
Research Areas
BSR supports research on a variety of topics related to AD/ADRD at multiple levels from genetics to cross-national comparative research, and at stages from basic through translational. Below are research areas that illustrate BSR's commitment to understanding AD/ADRD etiology and epidemiology, preventing age-related cognitive decline, addressing challenges associated with AD/ADRD care, developing interventions to improve the health and well-being of persons with dementia and their caregivers, and fostering data resources to the scientific research community.
To contact a BSR Program Official regarding projects related to any of these areas please send a brief email to BSR with specific aims attached.
Dementia Care
- Economic aspects of care
- Promoting health in persons with dementia
- Challenges and burdens associated with care
- Health services, systems, and settings
- Measure and tool development
- Basic research on potential intervention targets
- Non-pharmacological intervention development
- Models of care in long-term supports and services
- Prevention and detection of elder mistreatment
- Management of communication and decision making
- Management of non-cognitive symptoms
- Technology development for aging in place
- Dementia care workforce
Caregiver Research
- Demography of caregiving
- Economic aspects of caregiving
- Promoting health in caregivers
- Challenges and burdens associated with caregiving
- Measure and tool development
- Basic research on potential intervention targets
- Non-pharmacological intervention development
- Prevention and detection of elder mistreatment
- Management of communication and decision making
Cognitive and Dementia Epidemiology
- Prevalence
- Incidence
- National estimates of burden of illness
- Cross-national comparisons
- Trajectories of cognitive aging and decline
Behavioral and Social Pathways
- Behavioral and social risk and protective factors
- Basic behavioral, social, and biobehavioral research on causal pathways to cognitive decline and AD/ADRD
- Basic research on malleable mechanistic targets on behavioral and social pathways
Early Psychological Changes
- Early detection of cognitive decline
- Mobile monitoring or passive detection of cognitive change
- Non-cognitive psychological processes—including affective function, motivation, social function, and decision making—in AD/ADRD and their neurobiological, genetic, and physiological underpinnings
- Life-course longitudinal studies of age-related change in psychological processes
Prevention
- Non-pharmacological interventions to prevent, remediate, or delay age-related cognitive decline and AD/ADRD
- Interventions on behavioral risk factors
- Cognitive training
Disparities
- Disparities in health care access or health outcomes in any of the other portfolio categories based on factors including, but not limited to, race/ethnicity, gender, geographic location, and socioeconomic status
Research Resources
- Centers and research networks
- Professional and career development
- Data repositories, infrastructure, bioinformatics
Funding Opportunities
BSR is currently accepting grant applications to several funding opportunities in different scientific domains related to AD/ADRD. The full list of BSR's active AD/ADRD funding opportunities can be found below. A list of BSR's active funding opportunities in other research areas is available.
A full list of NIA-wide active funding opportunities is available, as are NIA-wide AD/ADRD funding opportunities.
Workshops and Meetings
BSR has convened a variety of workshops and meetings on different topics related to AD/ADRD and cognitive decline in recent years. Please click on the meeting titles below to access a summary of each meeting as well as meeting reports and other documents.
Summit Virtual Meeting Series: 2020 National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers
July 10, July 21, and August 13, 2020
Decadal Survey of Behavioral and Social Science Research on Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementia
August 14-15, October 17, 2019 and July 7-8, 2020
Incorporating the Experimental Medicine Approach in the Development of Primary Prevention Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Workshop
October 10-11, 2019
Gaps in the Dementia Care Workforce: Research Update and Data Needs
May 23, 2019
Improving Patient Outcomes through Effective Caregiver-Clinician Communication and Relationships Expert Meeting
May 17-18, 2018
State of the Science for Pragmatic Trials of Non-Pharmacological Interventions to Improve Outcomes Among Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers
December 1, 2017
Cost-Effective Early Detection of Cognitive Decline
October 25, 2017
Innovating the Next Generation of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease Care Interventions: Addressing the Needs of Persons Living with Dementia, Caregivers, and Care Providers
July 31, 2017 - August 01, 2017
Understanding Pathways to Successful Aging: Behavioral and Social Factors Related to Alzheimer's Disease
June 12-13, 2017
The Effect of Education on Recent Dementia Trends: A Look Forward
September 14, 2016
The Costs Associated with Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
October 26, 2011
