Novel Strategies to Reach and Engage Older Veterans During COVID-19

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures to prevent its spread have important implications for the health and wellbeing of older Veterans. Prior to the pandemic, social isolation was already recognized as a risk for older adults, contributing to increased risk of depression, physical inactivity, and mortality. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and transitions to new ways of delivering care have meant that many of the ways in which older Veterans connect with VA and others have changed. Older Veterans and Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI) are especially vulnerable to experience negative impacts from social isolation and loneliness. This symposium will present on four novel and adapted strategies for engaging with older Veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: 1) VA Connection Plans, a whole health intervention to promote social connections for older Veterans with and without SMI (Peeples); 2) telehealth adaptations to PEER, an in-person, peer-delivered exercise intervention for older Veterans with SMI (Muralidharan); 3) VA Compassionate Contact Corps, a VA Voluntary Service program to connect older Veterans with friendly volunteers via telephone (Sullivan); and 4) group telehealth interventions to foster social connection among older Veterans and their families (Weiskittle). Kim Van Orden, geropsychologist and director of the Hope Lab (Helping Older People Engage) at the University of Rochester Medical Center, will serve as discussant.


ACTIVITIES OF NEW BRAIN AGING Yeates Conwell, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States
The Network for Emotional Well-being and Brain Aging (NEW Brain Aging) was funded by NIA with the goal of forming a national, transdisciplinary collaborative that includes investigators with research expertise in emotional well-being (EWB), Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), human and animal neuroimaging, stress regulation, and computational/quantitative methods. Our objective is to stimulate mechanistic research identifying and testing mechanisms by which brain aging influences EWB and how EWB may impact risk for and progression of ADRD. This presentation will explain the structure and functions of the network that serve as a resource for investigators interested in EWB and aging research, and how to access them: a transdisciplinary community of scholars interested in brain, aging, and EWB research from both human and animal fields; webinars; workgroups to establish priorities for NEW Brain Aging activities; a resource repository; and pilot project funding opportunities to which network members can apply.

EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING ANIMAL MODELS Kuan Wang, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States
Clinical studies suggest an association between EWB and the risk or progression of AD. However, the mechanistic link and causal relationship between EWB and AD remain unknown, due to limited experimental access and control of the underlying human brain processes. Animal models offer genetic control of AD mutations and neural circuit analysis tools, but subjective feelings of EWB cannot be assessed through self-report. To study EWB across species, we adopt a theoretical framework that views emotions as central brain states that respond to exteroceptive or interoceptive stimuli and cause multiple cognitive, somatic and behavioral changes. Recent neuroanatomical and functional imaging studies have identified evolutionarily related brain circuits in the encoding and regulation of central emotional states in animals. Dr. Wang will review progress in elucidating the functional activities of these circuits and discuss the challenges and opportunities to link these neural representations to EWB and AD related pathological progression.

OVERVIEW OF EWB AND AGING Robert Kaplan, Stanford University, Stanford University, California, United States
The accumulation of scientific knowledge has been hampered by inconsistent usage of terms and categories. Ontology is the study of categories, their properties, and the relations between them. This presentation considers the definition and measurement of emotional well-being (EWB), a term that has been used inconsistently in research and clinical practice. The category contains eudaimonic and hedonic well-being that represent interrelated but conceptually distinct aspects of mental health. This presentation will review the definition and measurement of EWB and evidence for the validity of the construct. Evidence suggests EWB increases after age 50 and is important for maintenance of cognitive function in old age. Further, low in EWB may be a risk factor for incident ADRD, and is likely to impair cognitive functioning.

NIA PRIORITIES ON EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING Janine Simmons, NIA, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
In 2021, NIH funded six high-priority research networks designed to develop resources to support and advance the study of emotional well-being (EWB) and its core components. These research networks aim to advance the field by facilitating transdisciplinary research in the social, behavioral, psychological, biological, and neurobiological sciences. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) co-sponsored the RFA, and provided funding for NEW Brain Aging, because of the central importance of EWB to health trajectories across the adult lifespan. In this presentation, Dr. Simmons, Chief of the Individual Behavioral Processes Branch within the NIA Division of Behavioral and Social Research (BSR), will discuss how EWB research fits within NIA priorities. She will then facilitate open discussion about NIA and BSR's vision for the EWB 'network of networks,' the synergy of NEW Brain Aging with other members of the larger network, and the opportunities these networks will provide for investigators interested in EWB.

NOVEL STRATEGIES TO REACH AND ENGAGE OLDER VETERANS DURING COVID-19
Chair: Amanda Peeples Discussant: Kim Van Orden The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures to prevent its spread have important implications for the health and wellbeing of older Veterans. Prior to the pandemic, social isolation was already recognized as a risk for older adults, contributing to increased risk of depression, physical inactivity, and mortality. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and transitions to new ways of delivering care have meant that many of the ways in which older Veterans connect with VA and others have changed. Older Veterans and Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI) are Innovation in Aging, 2021, Vol. 5, No. S1 especially vulnerable to experience negative impacts from social isolation and loneliness. This symposium will present on four novel and adapted strategies for engaging with older Veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: 1) VA Connection Plans, a whole health intervention to promote social connections for older Veterans with and without SMI (Peeples); 2) telehealth adaptations to PEER, an in-person, peer-delivered exercise intervention for older Veterans with SMI (Muralidharan); 3) VA Compassionate Contact Corps, a VA Voluntary Service program to connect older Veterans with friendly volunteers via telephone (Sullivan); and 4) group telehealth interventions to foster social connection among older Veterans and their families (Weiskittle). Kim Van Orden, geropsychologist and director of the Hope Lab (Helping Older People Engage) at the University of Rochester Medical Center, will serve as discussant.