Case Study on the Community Resilience Within Title VI Programs During COVID-19: A Qualitative Analysis

Health inequalities increased for Native Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic due to poor infrastructure, lack of electricity, health disparities, limited transportation, and rural location (Yellow Horse, 2021). Title VI programs-- aging network organizations that serve tribal elders--had to be resourceful to meet increased needs and restrictions on service delivery options. Qualitative data from the national 2020 Title VI Native American Aging Programs Survey illustrated the challenges faced and the resiliency of these organizations and their communities. Two rounds of thematic coding of 479 open-ended responses to the survey revealed that communication across organizations, a sense of shared mission, and sharing of resources allowed these agencies to provide more services in innovative ways. Challenges included limited funding, regulatory barriers, and staff burnout. A video presentation by a Title VI program director will provide context for the results of the survey.

A Geroscience Perspective on COVID-19 – Joint Program from the American Aging Association (AGE) and The Gerontological Society of America

Faculty will focus on the biology of aging as a contributor to the vulnerability in COVID-19. Faculty will present the latest concepts and insights that will advance our ability to confront this global outbreak. Our goal for this session is to connect with the concept of Geroscience and how ideas from aging biology research can be incorporated to improve outcomes and informed practice. Although the emphasis is on biology, the goal is to provide insight in a manner that is readily accessible to researchers across the aging spectrum that they might translate these ideas in the face of a very real-world challenge.

Analytic Training for Junior Investigators in Minority Aging Research: The Michigan Model

Since 1997, the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research Program at the National Institute on Aging has been the model for training social and behavioral scientists in minority aging and health disparities research. The latest cycle of these Centers implemented a new structure for the analytic training of junior investigators and for advancing methodologic work relevant to improving the rigor of minority aging research. In this article, we describe the conceptual framework, logistical approaches, challenges, and lessons learned from our experience training junior investigators in methodology through the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research over the past 20 years, with the goal of informing future analytic training efforts for the next generation of scholars focused on minority aging issues.