Dr. Dina Battisto School of Architecture – Environmental Influences on Aging in Place

Dr. Battisto has studied the environmental influences on aging in place to identify the characteristics common among the homes and communities of older adults who chose to stay at home as long as possible. Quantitative analysis was performed using the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest-Old (AHEAD) dataset, and content analysis was conducted from in-depth interviews with older single adults 80 years and older living in the greater community.  She is also involved in a collaborative project with Dr. Judith Voelkl (PRTM) to create a “Family Model of Care” for nursing homes that includes the integration of a supportive organizational culture, a homelike environment, and meaningful activities. In another study, Dr. Battisto interviewed married couples from two cohorts to elicit information on their residential histories and the meanings attached to homes where they have lived throughout life.  Her manuscripts about these projects include: “Environmental Influences on Aging in Place”; “A Family Model of Care:  Creating Life Enriching Environments”; and “Gender Issues in the Home”.

Dr. Johnell Brooks  Psychology Department

Dr. Brooks research area is transportation Human Factors psychology.  She studies road users (both drivers and pedestrians) capabilities and limitations.  Her primary research activity is investigating the relationship between how well road users think they are going to perform to how well they actually perform in challenging visual conditions.

Dr. Katherine Cason   Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, CU Extension – Food Security

Dr. Cason’s primary research activities include: 1) Examination of the influences on food choices, nutrient intake, food purchasing and preparation practices, and level of food security among limited resource audiences; and 2) Assessment of the impact of nutrition education on dietary adequacy, food and nutrition practices of limited resource audiences using comparative models to determine the value of alternative educational interventions.  Dr. Cason is also the Coordinator for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and the Food and Nutrition Services Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, which target audiences with limited resources. This role includes nutrition educational material development and training for nutrition educators.

Dr. Lynne Cory  Research Associate in PRTM

Dr. Cory is a Research Associate in PRTM. Her primary research interests include therapeutic recreation, quality of life across the lifespan for individuals with and without disabilities, as well as community-based inclusive recreation, and community integration and re-integration for individuals with developmental or acquired disabilities. Dr. Cory works with PRTM and other HEHD faculty in the emphasis areas of Therapeutic Recreation (TR), and Community Recreation, Sports, and Camp Management (CRSCM) to identify research opportunities. With these PRTM and HEHD collaborators, Dr. Cory is engaged in the initial stages of several research projects including (1) a study examining effects of physical activity on individuals with physical disabilities who participate in community-based recreation and sports, (2) an initiative to reduce health disparities in Anderson County, South Carolina through a partnership of AnMed, HEHD, and Partners for a Healthy Community, and (c) an initiative to increase family involvement in Anderson County schools via community/school partnerships. In addition, Dr. Cory is interested in the development of sustainable youth sports programs, inclusive recreation, and physical activity in the Caribbean island of Dominica and is looking forward to research and student service learning projects there beginning in 2006.

Dr. Janet Craig and Dr. Janet Timms   School of Nursing

Drs. Craig and Timms have developed The Upstate EOL Educational Collaborative, a group of professional providers comprised of 36 partners who represent all major health care organizations and settings in the upstate, as well as university and technical programs preparing health professionals, AHEC, and The Carolinas Center for Hospice and EOL Care. SC Alliance 2020 seed money and matching dollars from Greenville Hospital System, St. Francis, and Interim Hospice and Laurens County Health System were obtained to support an initiative designed to raise awareness and assist professionals  “to think globally and act locally” to improve end-of-life care for seniors in upstate South Carolina.  A series of six multi-institutional, interdisciplinary communication and knowledge building conferences over a two year period (2004-5) featuring nationally recognized experts is planned, the first of which was held November 10, 2004.  Community needs assessment research is in the process with student co-investigators.

Dr. Janet Craig  School of Nursing-Health Systems and EOL Care

In partnership with local providers, two projects are underway to investigate the current state of end-of-life care in Upstate SC.  The first project, Barriers to Seamless Transitions into Hospice, is an initiative with Interim Home Care and Hospice who serves 8 upstate counties, and the second is a project with GHS partners Profiling the Last Six Months of Life, a study exploring 2003 deaths in hospital settings.  Dr. Craig is also the primary investigator on several graduate student projects of a similar nature with GHS Hospice and Spartanburg Regional Hospital.  These studies will extend the sample size and lend credibility to findings about the current nature of EOL care in the upstate community and provide direction and priorities for change.

Dr. Cheryl Dye  Department of Public Health Sciences – Physical Activity and Nutrition, Aging in Place in Rural Communities

Dr. Dye led a team including Drs. Voelkl, McGuire, and Timms which created a curriculum, “Physical Activity Over Fifty: Your Personal Fountain of Youth”, to be implemented by lay educators with low literacy audiences.  She has also conducted research to investigate factors impacting nutritional and physical activity behaviors of older adults, particularly those with low incomes and is currently investigating the factors impacting the ability to age in place.  Her latest project, in collaboration with Dr. Willoughby, Oconee Memorial Hospital and SC DHEC, was the development of an intervention placing paraprofessionals with Home Health patients in order to assist them in transitioning from home health services to chronic disease self-management.

Dr. Julie Eggert  School of Nursing – Alzheimer’s Disease

Impact of Music on Cognitive Status in Person's with Alzheimer's Disease.  Patients with dementia are pre and posted with Mini-Mental Status Exam's after a 15 minute intervention of simple Sunday School music. 

Dr. Vivian Haley-Zitlin R.D.  Food Science & Human Nutrition  – Nutrition, Aging & Chronic Disease

Dr. Haley-Zitlin’s research activities include examination of 1) the influences of food intake & exercise on an aging population, especially on the initiation and progression of chronic disease, 2) the relationships between nutrient intake, food choices and nutrition knowledge on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular (CV) risk and 3) the role of protein (soy vs. casein) and/or isoflavone intake on obesity, diabetes and CV risk factors. Her training includes a NIA Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Nutritional Gerontology Program, Departments of Physiology and Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, 1991-1994.  She is the 2004-2005 USDA Panel Manager for the ‘Bioactive Food Components for Optimal Health’ Study Section.

Dr. Fran McGuire Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management – Lifelong Learning

Dr. McGuire is a leader of the Clemson University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  The goal of the program is to offer opportunities to upstate residents to expand their educational horizons in a format that best suits their lifestyles.  Classes are rarely more than ten sessions in length, and most are eight or fewer with no prerequisite educational requirements for attendance.  Group interaction is encouraged, and, as a result, many new friendships are made.  Although largely attended by retirees, the classes are in no way restricted to any one age group.  The institute is a non-profit educational organization composed almost completely of volunteers; only the director holds a part-time paid position.  Some of the teachers are retired or active faculty members from area colleges and universities.

Dr. Jennifer Ogle Civil Engineering Department – Transportation Systems Group

Dr. Ogle’s research area is transportation infrastructure design and safety. She studies road design and operations with a particular focus on the safety effects of the road-vehicle-driver system. Dr. Ogle’s primary research area is in the use of instrumented vehicles to measure operator performance and compliance with design assumptions. Understanding how, when, and where drivers comply with speed limits, stop signs, and other traffic devices will inform designers and enable the development of a user-centered road system. In particular, Dr. Ogle is interested in the study of young and older driver populations due to the safety challenges associated with these groups.

Dr. Rich Pak  Psychology Department

Dr. Pak’s research interest is in understanding why older adults might have difficulty with various forms of new technology.  By understanding how cognition changes the psychological capabilities and limitations of the older adult, he hopes to explore how to make technology easier to use for older adults.  His background is in cognitive aging, human factors psychology, and human-computer interaction.

Dr. Nancy Porter   CU Extension – Financial Security

Financial Security is the ability to meet future needs while keeping pace with day-to-day obligations. The Cooperative Extension National initiative “Financial Security in Later Life” seeks to a) help people improve personal finance behaviors leading to financial security in later life, b) enhance the capacity of local educators and their partners to deliver effective programs, and c) increase economic vitality and quality of life for families and communities. BE SMART (Basic Education for Senior Medicare Awareness to Restore Trust) collaborative project educates seniors on keeping track of financial and medical records and guarding against consumer, telemarketing, and Medicare fraud.

Dr. Eric Seiber  Department of Public Health Sciences – Health Economics
Dr. Janet Craig  School of Nursing – End of Life Care

Drs. Seiber and Craig are resubmitting an NIH grant to examine patient site of care transitions at the end of life.  This study will use Medicare claims data to examine transitions between health care facilities that potentially increase the "burden of illness", disrupt the continuity of care, and increase out-of-pocket costs during the last six months of life.

Dr. Pat Smart  School of Nursing – Gerontology Policy

Dr. Smart has directed a statewide survey to determine informal or formal exercise programs available to older South Carolinians.  The Web-based component is completed and the Center for Aging in SC will facilitate a hard copy survey to complete data collection.

Dr. Mary Anne Taylor   Dept of Psychology – Retirement Adjustment

Dr. Taylor is currently working with William Byham, president of DDI consulting on a project involving the recruitment and retention of older workers. She is also working on a book chapter involving financial planning needs of low-income older workers. Her recent manuscripts and book chapters include, “Recruiting and Retaining Talented Older Workers” in Thriving on an Aging Workforce; “Three Forms of Social Support and Prediction of Retirement Adjustment”; and “Predicting the Retirement Adjustment of Military Retirees: The Central Role of Expectations”.

Dr. Deborah Thomason   Clemson University Extension - Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and Caring for the Caregiver

Dr. Thomason has considerable experience with offering training in these areas and is knowledgeable about what other states have done to address these issues. She is a certified EDEN Alternative Associate and has conducted trainings emphasizing intergenerational issues. She currently serves as State Program Leader for Extension Family and Consumer Sciences.

Dr. Janet Timms   School of Nursing – Caregiver Education and End-Of Life Care

Dr. Timms served on the Palliative Care Committee at Anderson Area Medical Center, and assisted in the development and teaching of a series of End of Life staff development conferences. She collaborated with Anderson Area Medical Center to develop and implement a nursing research project to assess end of life knowledge and attitudes, and collaborated with colleagues in the South Carolina Nurses Association to design and implement a statewide project to assess end of life knowledge and attitudes of S. C. nurses. She collaborated with Anderson Area Medical Center and Greenville Memorial Hospital to develop and implement a research project to investigate workplace skills of Clemson University BSN graduates. She has collaborated with nursing staff at St. Francis Health System to plan and implement research designed to study early re-admissions of elderly patients, and collaborated with St. Francis Health System nurses to develop a community program to study caregiver needs. Dr. Timms, in collaboration with Dr. Cheryl Dye, created a caregiver education curriculum that includes components on end-of-life care. Dr. Timms and Dr. Janet Craig developed the Upstate End of Life Educational, a group of professional providers comprised of 44 partners representing major health care organizations and setting in upstate South Carolina. The collaborative effort resulted in planning of a series of six multi-institutional interdisciplinary conferences over two years, three of which were provided in 2004-2005.

Dr. Judith Voelkl  Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management – Family Model of Care

Dr. Voelkl and Dr. Dina Battisto (Architecture) have developed an innovative model of care for nursing homes, The Family Model of Care. It is hypothesized that this model promotes quality of life for residents, care staff, and residents’ family members via culture change. They recently completed focus groups with nursing home staff to assess perceptions and concerns regarding the Family Model of Care. Voelkl and Battisto have established a working alliance with White Oak Manor, Inc in Spartanburg, South Carolina and plan to implement the model in one of their nursing homes. Currently they are in the process of preparing grants to secure funding for implementation of this model of care.  Dr. Voelkl’s publications include: “Family Making Among Older Adults with Dementia on a Special Care Unit”; “A Family Model of Care:  Creating Life Enriching Environments in Nursing Homes”; and “The Family Model of Care”.

Dr. Deborah Willoughby   School of Nursing; Dr. Vivian Haley-Zitlin, Food Science – Diabetes Control

Partnership with Senior Solutions centers for providing diabetes education and development of an exercise video for older clients.  Data analysis from this work (pre-post Hgb A1c, knowledge test, etc) is ongoing. Dr.  Willoughby has also conducted focus group research to identify factors that impact the ability of older adults to Age in Place and has partnered with Dr. Dye in submitting a HRSA grant to help home health patients transition from home health services to chronic disease self-management.

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