Mi-Kyung Song PhD, RN, FAAN, and Ken Hepburn PhD

Hepburn and Perkins recently received a $5.8 million National Institute on Aging (NIA) P30 grant renewal to fund the Roybal Center’s work, which supports researchers developing behavioral interventions that help caregivers become more proficient and confident. Song just received a $5.5 million NIA R01 grant to study informal caregiving networks of persons living with dementia, one of the first studies to focus on multiple caregivers beyond primary caregivers. The grants continue a research trajectory for both researchers at the intersection of palliative care, chronic illness management, and caregiving. 

Hepburn says the need for this research is clear. The aging population in the U.S. will continue to grow through 2050 with an increasing need for caregiver support. With dementia alone, the population will increase from 8-9 million to an estimated 16 million. 

“The reality is that families, whether it is with people living with dementia or other chronic conditions, are the health care system for the older population,” Hepburn says. “The formal health care system doesn’t manage day-to-day life; families and friends do.”

What Hepburn and Song are amplifying:

Song and Hepburn are among researchers studying the effect of serious chronic illness on patients and caregivers. Other researchers in the school are engaged in related areas, including long-term care, living alone, insomnia, caregiving for a second time, mother-daughter caregiving dynamics, and couples living with mild cognitive impairment. “Moving forward, research about patient and family caregiver experiences will continue to inform nursing and other fields in health sciences,” Song says. “Medical advances can only do so much. Healing doesn’t happen without improving the human experience. That’s where nursing stands out.”