Projects to Advance Integrative Health Equity throughout the Osher Center

Crowd-sourcing innovative ideas to nurture health and inspire well-being through cross-program collaboration to address health inequities.

Developing brief assessment and intervention materials for sleep problems in older adults

Submitted by Ashley Mason on October 30, 2024 - 8:20pm Last revised by Marliese Warren on November 26, 2024 - 9:26am.
Project Idea Status: 
Not Selected for This Round

Brief Project Description, including Feasibility and Anticipated Impact (150 words maximum). Sleep problems in older adults are often dismissed as age-related sleep declines. Providers may not ask patients about behaviors that may perpetuate sleep problems for several reasons; they may not know what to ask or may not have time. Many behaviors that perpetuate sleep problems are not particularly difficult to fix. For example, many people are unaware that we metabolize caffeine differently as we age, which requires changes in the timing at which we consume caffeine (thus, shifting caffeine earlier to earlier in the day can have a significant impact).

We aim to improve brief assessment and intervention of behaviors that perpetuate sleep problems by developing (1) a brief assessment tool that patients complete as part of their pre-arrival paperwork, (2) brief intervention handouts that correspond to each assessment item for providers to discuss with patients, and (3) dot phrases that providers can insert into patient’s after-visit-summaries.

Names of Project Lead(s) and Key Team Members: This research-clinic collaboration would include: Ashley Mason, Maki Nakazato, and Linda Dulong.

Total Budget Requested: $15,301.

Comments

Marliese Warren - October 31, 2024 - 10:34am

Thanks for submitting our first proposal.  I'm not sure I see the connection to integrative health equity.  Can you please comment on or update your proposal to reflect how this idea advances OCIH efforts to address inequities in health and healthcare with integrative medicine?

Ashley Mason - October 31, 2024 - 10:53am
Marliese,
Older adults often experience inequitable clinical care, with their concerns brushed off as old age or even worse, their complaints are not inquired after. I've witnessed this a fair amount in my sleep group, with older patients explaining that their concerns were written off, and they found the Osher sleep group on their own. I hope this helps clarify.
Thanks,
Ashley

 

Ashley Mason - October 31, 2024 - 10:55am

Marliese,

Additionally, if anyone might like a review article on inequitable healthcare for older people, please check out this systematic review: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-017-0605-z 

Ariana Jostad-Laswell - November 7, 2024 - 12:47pm

This seems like an important patient care issue for sure. Do you imagine it would only be used with adults above a certain age? Or would the materials be applicable for all patients?

Marliese Warren - November 7, 2024 - 3:50pm

Commenting on behalf of Ashely Mason:

These resources could be used by anyone, but that they would have some items particularly relevant for older adult populations. For example, older adults are more likely to be on blood pressure medications, which can impact sleep, and we would have a screening question and dot phrase for that.  

Commenting is closed.