Couples Lived Experience

Launched by NYU LANGONE HEALTH · Apr 26, 2021

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The Couples Lived Experience study is looking at how being in a committed relationship affects the mental health and well-being of older adults, especially those dealing with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. This study will involve couples where both partners are 65 years or older and willing to participate for three years. Participants will share information about their health, emotional support, and caregiving roles through questionnaires every six months. The goal is to understand how changes in their relationship may impact their mental health and cognitive abilities.

To be eligible, both members of the couple must live together, be able to speak English, and have a stable internet connection for virtual meetings. Participants should be committed to ongoing assessments every six months. Unfortunately, individuals with certain serious mental health conditions or disabilities that prevent them from participating will not be included. Throughout the study, researchers will regularly check for cognitive impairment, and couples will continue to participate as long as they remain eligible. This study will help to shed light on the important connection between relationships and health in older adults.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • Longitudinal Portion
• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Community dwelling older adult aged 65 years or older
• • 2. Must speak English as the study measures are not validated in other languages.
• • 3. Must express intent to commit to ongoing participation in longitudinal study with assessments every 6 months for 3 years,
• • 4. Is part of a couple and their spouse/partner is also willing to participate in the project. All couples, regardless of sexual orientation or gender preference are eligible to participate
• • 5. Both members of the couple must cohabitate at the time of enrollment.
• • 6. Must have stable internet connection and capability to stream video with audio.
• • 7. A subset of the longitudinal study participants (selected at random) will be invited to be participate in a focus group upon completion of the last (3 year) quantitative assessment. These participants must be willing to have their comments recorded.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Any individual with a prior diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder.
• • 2. Individual is unable to complete the informed consent process
• • 3. Any individual with a prior diagnosis of a chronic disabling medical condition that would make it impossible to participate in a focus group via Zoom or WebEx.