1. 90 The Journal on Active Aging G March/April 2010
Why create a university-
based research program
within the CCRC environ-
ment? Persuasive reasons
include benefits for
residents, researchers and
communities
by Michael J. Logan, MHA, CASP
Alex Francis gets to know his research
participants—and their spouses—better
than most scientists would. So, while it
could have been idle chat for a partici-
pant’s wife to mention that her husband
was getting a new hearing aid, it raised a
red flag for Francis.
Program profile
Engaging university aging research
in a continuing care retirement
community
Participants don’t often know how
changes in their lives might affect
Francis’s research outcomes. But for a sci-
entist studying hearing and cognition, it
could have been disastrous for a partici-
pant to change hearing aids in the mid-
dle of a study. Had Francis, like many
scientists, kept his distance from his
research participants, he may have never
known about the new hearing aid and
the way it would have affected his
study.
“It would have significantly changed my
results,” says Francis, an associate profes-
sor of speech, language and hearing sci-
ence at Purdue University. “I would have
thought the intervention had a
major impact had he gotten a new
hearing aid in the middle of the
study.”
Francis is one of a half-dozen researchers
involved in a collaboration between
Purdue’s Center on the Life Course and
Aging (CALC) and University Place, a
not-for-profit, faith-based continuing
care retirement community (CCRC), in
West Lafayette, Indiana. Born in 2003 of
a desire to add to the wellness program at
University Place and Purdue’s need for
quality research participants, the partner-
ship has grown beyond what was once
envisioned.
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2. 91The Journal on Active Aging G March/April 2010
Haddad and Shirley Rietdyk work in bal-
ance and motor function in older adults.
Haddad and Rietdyk use training meth-
ods and equipment meant to improve
balance and assess an individual’s ability
to make positive changes. The researchers
believe that better balance control could
lead to better mechanical control overall.
And Francis, as mentioned previously, is
researching high-level cognitive process-
ing, including attention, memory and
speech perception. His work is often
referred to as the cocktail party prob-
lem—people tend to have difficulty
focusing on a conversation in a noisy
room. Francis says this problem is worse
in individuals with hearing loss and
could be tied to cognitive ability. He
wants to find out if increasing cognitive
ability improves the ability to filter
information in a “cocktail party”
situation.
Besides those programs, which are held
on-site at University Place, Purdue’s
CALC includes more than 50 faculty
associates from a wide range of disci-
plines—from pharmacy and nursing to
foods and nutrition, to hospitality and
tourism. According to Ferraro, the center
is a direct response to a field that has
grown tremendously in recent decades.
“There are a lot of fields that are giving
more attention to the aging of adults,” he
says.
Purdue’s aging research program itself has
steadily evolved over the years. What
started as a Center for Research on Aging
in 1985, turned into a Gerontology
Program just 10 years later. Now that
program is the educational arm of
CALC.
“We are stimulating the teaching side
and we are stimulating the research side,”
Ferraro explains. “We really see how edu-
cation and research are linked.”
A more active partnership
University Place similarly benefits from
having Purdue faculty researchers on the
community’s campus. Historically,
CCRCs located in college communities
market and promote accessibility to con-
tinuing education opportunities, sporting
events and campus life functions, as well
To build a strategic relationship with a
university, a CCRC must take an active
role in providing opportunities for aging
research and education-related intern-
ships for undergraduate and graduate stu-
dents, as University Place has done.
Many communities have set the stage by
moving to wellness programs that focus
on the mental, physical, spiritual, social,
emotional and vocational well-being of
their residents. Rather than being reactive
to situations that are bound to arise with
an aging population, these CCRCs
have developed programs aimed at
helping older adults help themselves
and take part in their own health and
fitness.
CCRCs have a financial obligation to
provide care for their residents in the
least restrictive, most affordable level of
care (e.g., independent living, assisted
living, health care or dementia care).
By providing aging-related research,
University Place and other CCRCs will
have a better understanding of where to
spend capital dollars for strategic initia-
tives and programs.
A focus on functionality
CALC’s research programs have a similar
philosophy of finding interventions that
stave off age-related problems in older
adults, rather than treating those prob-
lems after they have occurred. “We
emphasize the process of aging and main-
taining functionality,” explains Ken
Ferraro, director of CALC.
For example, Karen Yehle, an assistant
professor in Purdue’s School of Nursing,
and Kimberley Plake, an associate profes-
sor in the Department of Pharmacy
Practice, are working with individuals
who have had or are at risk of heart
events, such as heart attacks or heart
failure. The program uses a holistic
approach to heart health, including phar-
macy, nutrition and lifestyle changes.
One study has assessed health literacy
and how it influences self-care in people
with heart failure, while another focuses
on caregiver burden for those tasked with
administering medication to family
members.
In the Department of Health and
Kinesiology, assistant professors Jeff
Continued on page 92
Ten benefits of university
aging research in continu-
ing care retirement
communities
1. A CCRC will better understand
where to spend funds for
programs.
2. The CCRC/university relation-
ship will be more balanced.
3. A university affiliation will offer
a community benefit, thereby
supporting a not-for-profit
CCRC’s property tax exemption.
4. Residents will test interventions
that may benefit their lives.
5. Residents will have opportunities
to shape the research agenda.
6. Researchers will gain a pool of
research participants from across
the health spectrum.
7. Given their familiar surround-
ings, research participants in a
CCRC will feel less stressed than
those who go to a laboratory.
8. Through their relationships with
residents, university students will
develop a deeper understanding
of the aging process.
9. Longer studies will be possible,
leading to “more compelling”
findings.
10. Research data will aid the CCRC
industry in creating beneficial
programs and policies for
residents.
as opportunities to interact with college
students working in their community.
These traditional marketing opportuni-
ties are passive in nature and one-sided.
In other words, the CCRC relies heavily
on the university to provide opportuni-
ties for their residents, rather than pro-
viding tangible benefits to the university.
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3. 92 The Journal on Active Aging G March/April 2010
to help are real people. They’re not a par-
ticipant number,” she states. “It makes it
more personal and probably more impor-
tant,” continues Yehle, who concludes
that “working with the residents adds a
richness to our research.”
Although the affiliation between CALC
and University Place provides the frame-
work for these meaningful research inter-
actions, this kind of relationship offers
other advantages as well.
A host of benefits
CCRCs must not overlook the benefit
that an affiliation with a university brings
to both organizations. Despite some
operational costs, a contractual written
strategic affiliation with a university pro-
vides a tangible community benefit for
not-for-profit CCRCs to support their
property tax exemption.
To get the affiliation, CCRCs must pro-
vide a tangible value—motivation for
university faculty members to drive to a
community and set up hours. University
Place provides research space, office fur-
niture, computers, office supplies, copiers
and access to an older-adult population.
The most obvious benefit to CALC is
having a willing group of research partic-
ipants available for a variety of research
programs. Actually, finding qualified
research participants isn’t too difficult in
and of itself. But factor in asking an
older adult to navigate a confusing cam-
pus with limited parking and long walks
to research facilities, as well as needing
them to do that multiple times, and the
participant pool evaporates quickly.
“Often the first question I get from pos-
sible research subjects is, ‘How often
would I have to come to campus?’”
Francis says.
Purdue has a hearing clinic from which
Francis could recruit potential partici-
pants. However, the pool of candidates
visiting the clinic has limits, because
there are no visitors who make up the
Moreover, when a CCRC is in a universi-
ty town and markets and sells to univer-
sity retirees, the community is expected
to have a collaboration and partnership
with the university. By providing a writ-
ten affiliation agreement that emphasizes
research and educational opportunities
for students, the CCRC will have a more
balanced strategic relationship with the
university. At University Place, CALC is
a tangible symbol of that collaboration,
highlighting a two-way benefit.
For residents, there is a direct benefit
from Purdue researchers doing studies at
University Place. Residents are given the
opportunity to test new interventions
that may have impacts on their lives—
from new methods to improve balance,
to nutrition plans that may increase heart
health. CALC researchers, affiliated nurs-
es and students also continue working
with residents long after a study ends,
sometimes continuing successful inter-
ventions and sometimes just using best
practices to help individuals with whatev-
er problems they might have.
CALC has two goals for all of its re-
search. The first goal is familiar to any-
one in a medical profession: do no harm.
The second isn’t always a given, however,
for scientists working with research par-
ticipants: ensure that those being studied
receive a benefit.
Francis sees to it that all his research par-
ticipants gain something, even if they’re
selected as a control and not tested on a
new intervention. Often, the control resi-
dents will be offered training or instruc-
tion they didn’t receive during a trial. “I
couldn’t look somebody in the eye and
say, ‘Come on in and waste your time for
40 hours, so that I can get good data,’”
Francis says. “I want to do good science,
but I want to do good science that is
useful.”
Yehle adds that this approach keeps the
researchers grounded. “It always serves as
a reminder that the people you’re trying
healthy end of the spectrum. And those
with a hearing disability aren’t likely to
want to come to campus too often if they
can help it.
“Almost by definition, the people who
could do studies on campus are the
healthiest of the healthy,” Francis
observes. “If you want to look at how
effective training is, you need a control
population. Older people without hear-
ing impairment don’t come into our clin-
ic, but they come here [to University
Place].”
The research participants are also in a
more comfortable environment in the
University Place community, lessening
the stress that might come with being
tested in an unfamiliar laboratory. “This
is a naturalistic environment,” Yehle
notes. “There is not a burden on some-
one who’d like to participate.”
Further, both graduate and undergradu-
ate students have deepened their under-
standing of the aging process by develop-
ing relationships with the residents,
rather than studying them from a dis-
tance, states Haddad. “For many [stu-
dents], it was their first time work-
ing with a population like this,” he
comments. “They each had a great
experience.”
There’s also another, more subtle, advan-
tage in doing studies in a participant’s
home, according to Ferraro. Those stud-
ies become longitudinal.
“It’s a fundamentally different experience
to come to a resident’s home and see the
resident in their own environment,”
Ferraro says. “We have the ability to
track the efficiency of the study for a
long period of time. It can make findings
more compelling.”
And residents who feel comfortable with
the researchers can help shape the
research in ways traditional participants
don’t often do. During open house
Engaging university aging research in a continuing care
retirement community Continued from page 91
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4. 93The Journal on Active Aging G March/April 2010
events, University Place residents share
their health concerns and ideas for new
studies. For the researchers, it’s a chance to
find out how they can make a difference
to the people they’re trying to help. “It
allows for two-way feedback with the resi-
dents,” Plake notes, and “will influence
the direction of our work on caregivers.”
Adds Yehle, “There’s not so much of a dis-
connect between research and the real
world.”
The researchers have no concerns about
getting too close to their research partici-
pants and tainting the objectivity of their
work. “Even though we know the people
personally, the information is blinded and
we don’t know an individual’s outcome,”
Plake explains.
In fact, the only disadvantage any of the
researchers mention is the inconvenience
of having essentially two laboratories sepa-
rated by several miles. “Sometimes I forget
my notebook in one place and have to go
back,” Francis admits. “But that’s my own
fault.”
A valuable experience
With its university-based research pro-
gram now in its seventh year, University
Place hopes that the model created with
Purdue will advance research in the field
of aging. The community also hopes to
further the use of this kind of information
to better the lives of those living in
CCRCs.
The CCRC industry has little accessible
data that its leaders can use to shape pro-
grams and policies to benefit their resi-
dents. When a university conducts re-
search within a CCRC, faculty members
can collect real data that they can share
with the state and national associations
as well as their corporate board of
directors.
Purdue’s research program at University
Place will probably stay at around three
programs for the time being, according to
Ferraro, so as not to overburden the par-
ticipant pool. He is also keen on
researchers conducting long studies, so
they become ingrained in the University
Place community and residents become
more comfortable with them. “There real-
ly are more active ways of monitoring and
Setting up a university
aging research partnership
• Develop and execute your affilia-
tion agreement in collaboration
with the University Engagement
Office, Strategic Planning Office
or Office of the Treasurer.
• Incorporate resident educational
opportunities, intergenerational
exposure, employment, and
research and intern opportunities
within the affiliation agreement.
• Create an advisory board that will
have the responsibility and author-
ity to implement the goals of the
affiliation agreement. Advisory
board members might include uni-
versity department chairs, universi-
ty administrators, resident council
representatives, or a resident repre-
sentative from the strategic plan-
ning or finance committee.
• Develop a Community Benefit
and Social Accountability tool in
order to measure the success of the
affiliation. Indicators include num-
ber of hours for student intern-
ships, number of educational pro-
grams offered, and number of
research programs offered.
• Be sure to have an advertising arti-
cle within the affiliation agreement
in order to market your communi-
ty’s exclusive affiliation with the
university.
• Incorporate a term and termina-
tion article within the affiliation
agreement. Generally, a five-year
term with a 30-day written notice
to terminate is sufficient.
• Remember that the affiliation
agreement must state that both
parties are autonomous and shall
be governed independently, and
that neither party shall have the
authority to bind the other with-
out the other’s specific written
consent.
helping people manage their own health
and well-being,” Ferraro states. “We
wanted to see it as something that’s
sustainable.”
Still, some opportunities are being devel-
oped to widen the impact the partner-
ship will have on students. Rietdyk and
Haddad are developing a senior-level
course that will combine classroom learn-
ing on motor control and aging with
hands-on experience in using that knowl-
edge to help University Place residents.
“[Students will] get some real-life experi-
ence applying what they’ve learned in
class,” Haddad says—an opportunity they
don’t always have, he explains.
According to Rietdyk, students are lining
up in droves for the class, which will
accept only top students in their pro-
grams. That competition has students
clambering for better grades and a shot at
the new class. The experience they gain
from working with residents will be worth
it, she believes.
“We can teach [students] about what it’s
like to be old, or they could read some-
thing an old person has written,” says
Rietdyk. “But, they can actually experi-
ence that at University Place.”
Michael J. Logan, MHA, CASP, is currently
the executive director of University Place, a
not-for-profit, faith-based continuing care
retirement community affiliated with
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette,
Indiana. Owned by the Franciscan Sisters of
Chicago, University Place received the 2009
Readers Choice Award for Best Retirement
Community. Logan, a graduate of Indiana
University, also holds a master’s degree in
health administration from Saint Louis
University. Since 1999, he has been recog-
nized as a servant leader who embraces
opportunities to serve older adults and con-
tribute to the field of aging science, as well as
enhance the lives of the employees who serve
the CCRC mission. Most recently, he present-
ed at the Catholic Healthcare Association
(CHA) Annual Conference on “Resident
Engagement: A Ministry of Empowerment”
and the Indiana Association for Homes and
Services for the Aging (IAHSA) Annual
Conference on “Perspectives on Faith Based
Leadership.” Logan can be reached at
michaeljlogan74@yahoo.com.
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