Welcome to the SUPPORT Study website!
Thank you for taking a few minutes to learn more about what we are doing and how you can get involved.
- This project focuses on people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. People living with dementia are a growing part of the American population. As a group, they often depend on health and social services to meet their needs.
- People in this population are much more likely to have repeated hospital stays in a short period of time.
- We want to understand why this happens and what strategies are effective to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations
The SUPPORT Study (Stakeholders Understanding of Prevention Protection & Opportunities to Reduce FrequenT Hospitalizations) is a research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This study is one part of a nation-wide effort to inform and improve national re-hospitalization policy.
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What are the project goals?
- The main goal of this project is to learn more about strategies that keep people with dementia healthy and out of the hospital
- To achieve this, the SUPPORT study team is gathering feedback from caregivers as well as key hospital and community representatives on ways to reduce frequent hospital use among people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
What does the project involve?
- This project involves conversations with people in 3-4 communities around the country.
- Researchers will talk with about 100 caregivers, clinicians, and other community representative such as advocates and social workers.
- Interviews take place either as group conversations (i.e. focus groups) or individually depending on each participant’s preference.
- Conversations will last 30-60 minutes and include questions, such as:
- How do you help keep your loved one (patient) healthy?
- What are your experiences with having a loved one (patient) with dementia hospitalized and rehospitalized?
- What dementia resources exist in your community? Is it easy to get to these?
- People who participate in these conversations will each be paid $35 for their time
- If you are interested in getting involved, please send us an email using the ‘Contact Us’ Form at the bottom of the page
SUPPORT Study News & Updates
Alzheimer's Association Chapter - Detroit
From left: Quinton Cotton, Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, and Laura Block during a visit to the Detroit Alzheimer's Association Chapter.
Quinton Cotton receives National Institute on Aging Dissertation Award to continue SUPPORT Study in Milwaukee, Wisconsin!
Quinton’s dissertation research examines crisis events among African American dementia caregivers and the role of the caregiving environment (i.e. place, neighborhood features, social status) to address these events. His long-term goal is to design, test, and implement community-based social and behavioral interventions that support dementia care management among African American families experiencing dementia.
Study Team Introduction: Quinton Cotton
Quinton Cotton, MSSA is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been an integral part of the team so far, helping with interviews and data analysis. For his dissertation, he is launching interviews for the SUPPORT Study in Milwaukee, where he hopes to learn more about how family caregivers handle good and bad days. We are excited to support him in this work!
New Site Launches
We are excited to announce that we are working with two more sites to help us better understand how we can keep people with dementia healthy and out of the hospital! By working with community organizations, hospitals, and universities in the Knoxville, TN and Atlanta, GA areas, we hope to gather even more information about helpful resources and strategies, as well as some of the challenges involved in helping people with dementia avoid hospital visits.
Detroit Collaboration & Progress Update
A huge thank you to the Detroit-area universities, community organizations, and hospitals who have helped us to reach out to those who work with people with dementia or have family or friends with dementia! With their help, we interviewed 73 participants – 50 family caregivers, 12 people who work with community organizations, and 11 hospital providers.
We have completed a report, “A Better Way”: Opportunities to Strengthen Supports for People with Dementia in the Greater Detroit Area, that shares what we learned from our Detroit participants. We are also currently drafting two scientific articles based on our study findings so far.
This project is funded by the National Institute of Health, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Grant #1R01MD010243-01