PIPages
Labs

Lee Lindquist

Northwestern University, IL·Medicine & Clinical Research

Most older adults want to keep living in their own homes. Alzheimer's dementia, however, often forces a choice between bringing support into the home and moving into a care facility.

Fields

Medicine & Clinical Research

Public Health & Epidemiology

Social Science

Topics

Alzheimer's disease

dementia

aging in place

Grants
2 known grants, through Nov 2030

What they work on

  1. Track how aging-in-place and long-term care plans change over 84 months in a cohort of 293 older adults who used PlanYourLifespan.org, examining the roles of cognition, physical function, family and environment.
  2. Assess whether older adults' care decisions are actually carried out and match their goals, by interviewing both the older adults and their family and friend caregivers.
  3. Examine how age-related changes, social influences and environment interact to shape both planning and the real-world carrying out of care choices.
  4. Map the caregiving networks of 200 people with Alzheimer's disease in Illinois, Indiana and Hawaii using Network Canvas social network software, to show how people define 'family' caregivers.
  5. Identify which features of caregiver networks, including positive and negative relationships, predict the psychological and physical wellbeing of caregivers and people with dementia.

More about the research

Families are frequently unprepared when that moment arrives. This research studies how older adults plan for aging in place and for long-term care, how those plans are actually carried out over time, and who really provides care for people with Alzheimer's disease. Two projects address these questions. One follows the same older adults for years as their plans change. The other maps the whole network of relatives and friends who help care for a person with dementia.

Why it matters

When older adults have not planned ahead, relatives must make urgent decisions during a crisis such as worsening Alzheimer's dementia. Findings could help doctors, insurers, caregivers and older adults support care choices that match a person's own goals. Better ways to measure caregiver networks could also show which family dynamics help or harm the wellbeing of caregivers and of people living with dementia.

Known grants

From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.

Implementation of Aging-in-Place Services for Older Adults with Alzheimer's Dementia

NIH · Feb 2026 – Nov 2030

Measuring Caregiver Networks of Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease

NIH · Aug 2023 – Apr 2028

Closest labs

Kalisha Johnson

Emory University, GA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career

Examine how behavioral, sociocultural and environmental factors shape formal care decisions and quality of life among African American people living with dementia and their adult daughter caregivers, using dyadic data analysis.

Safiyyah Okoye

Drexel University, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career

Characterize housing disrepair, such as roof, wall, heating or plumbing problems, among U.S. older adults, and test its links to functional disability in low-income older adults.

Manka Nkimbeng

University of Minnesota, MN·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career

Explore the experiences and care strategies of high-risk New American older adults with dementia and their informal family caregivers.

The school

Northwestern University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 536 research doctorates a year.

More about Northwestern University

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