Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) experience challenges with social communication that have only been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This project aims to better understand virtual communication among individuals with AD and identify ways to improve the quality of these interactions. This study hypothesizes that AD individuals’ communication abilities are impacted by factors such as the modality of communication (virtual vs. in-person) and the presence of distractions. To test these, the study will investigate the difference between in-person and virtual communication, comparing individuals with AD and cognitively healthy older adults across three different language production tasks. The study will also examine AD individuals’ language production in virtual communication settings with the presence or absence of different kinds of distractors. AD individuals are expected to experience more virtual communication challenges relative to healthy adults and that controlling irrelevant information in the video call context will improve their communication success.

The study will provide a deeper understanding of what factors challenge or facilitate virtual communication for individuals with AD, and will have immediate implications for telehealth and social connectivity.

PI: Si On Yoon, Assistant Professor, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, NYU Steinhardt

Developmental stuttering disorders are most noticeably associated with speech fluency interruptions (also called ‘stuttering events’ or ‘stuttering’). However, individuals who stutter also experience cognitive and emotional reactions in anticipation of stuttering events that aren’t as easily observable, but are just as consequential for understanding stuttering. Stutterers typically learn to anticipate stuttering events with high accuracy (>85%). They then develop avoidance or safety behaviors, such as stalling or freezing, and pre-stuttering anxiety at least as early as the school-age years. These responses make it difficult to prepare to speak and potentially contribute directly to stuttering events. Indeed, recent work reveals a neurocognitive response in a portion of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-DLPFC) preceding overtly stuttered speech in adults, likely reflecting inhibitory control in response to stuttering anticipation. How these neurocognitive processes develop in children is unknown, in part due to difficulties in eliciting stuttered speech reliably during neuroimaging.

The goal of this project is to (1) explore the neurocognitive processes in children associated with anticipatory responses to stuttering, and (2) make use of a novel paradigm for eliciting stuttering in children.

PI: Eric S. Jackson, Associate Professor, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, NYU Steinhardt

Co-Investigator: Joan Orpella, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University

Co-Investigator: Ravi Shroff, Associate Professor of Applied Statistics, Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities, NYU Steinhardt

Co-Investigator: Adam Buchwald, Professor - Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, NYU Steinhardt, Director - Center of Health and Rehabilitation Research

Greater research on the mechanisms supported by art-making can lead to substantial policy changes for healthcare reform and the inclusion of the arts in treatment. The positive benefits of community-based art making have been documented by existing research. To reform models of healthcare, more emphasis should be placed on integrative intervention. Such innovation signals greater cross-disciplinary collaborations to effectively treat both mind and body when disease symptoms emerge. Most intervention solely targets one facet of the person. Art therapy intervention, in a community-based, accessible setting affords participants to gain greater agency in disease mitigation.

This study hypothesizes significant outcomes for people with disease after engaging in cycles of 10-week artist residencies, supported by art therapists. This venture examines the benefits of art-making supported by graduate art therapy students and faculty, tracks physiological changes through Rusk Rehabilitation and Tandon–developed technologies, and offers critical education on inclusive, culturally attuned healthcare curated by the graduate arts administration program for the NYU Langone medical community.

PI: Marygrace Berberian, Clinical Assistant Professor or Art Therapy, Art and Art Professions, NYU Steinhardt

Disability Inclusion Vice Chair, PI: John Ross Rizzo, Ilse Melamid Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, NYU Langone/NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Advisor: Yao Wang, Professor, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Implementation of promising evidence-based interventions (EBI) is notably delayed in clinical practice for stroke rehabilitation. The urgent call for increased hybrid-effectiveness trials is a clear indication that implementation research and intervention development must occur in tandem in order to minimize the 17-year evidence gap. The Use My Arm-Remote (UMA-R) combines several EBI (e.g., task specific practice, telerehabilitation, and shared decision-making approaches) into a UE self-training protocol delivered remotely to promote actual arm use, defined as spontaneous use of the affected UE in real world settings. We recently completed an initial feasibility study of the UMA-R protocol, funded by the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Since the ultimate goal is to implement the UMA-R within an outpatient occupational therapy setting, the next step will be to complete a process evaluation to assess and identify the specific implementation needs of the UMA-R. The objective of this study is to complete a process evaluation and develop an implementation blueprint for the UMA-R protocol within the context of an outpatient occupational therapy clinic.

PI: Grace Kim, Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, NYU Steinhardt

Collaborator/Advisor: Lisa Juckett, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, Ohio State University

Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune skin condition affecting up to 6.7 million adult Americans and is associated with numerous psychological and social problems, including depression, anxiety, impaired social functioning, decreased work productivity or unemployment, and reduced quality of life. Individuals with psoriasis typically experience several co-morbid conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. The relationship between psoriasis and obesity is complex; however, achievement of a healthy body weight may reduce the disease burden and improve treatment response. Unfortunately, individuals with psoriasis face numerous barriers and challenges that impede their ability to engage in recommended lifestyle behaviors. Although the National Psoriasis Foundation strongly recommends dietary weight reduction in overweight/obese patients with psoriasis, the weight loss needs and wants among this population remain unknown.

The goal of this project is to determine the preferred intervention characteristics and acceptability of a lifestyle intervention to reduce body weight and inflammation in overweight/obese individuals with psoriasis. An online survey will be distributed to assess the preferred intervention characteristics and acceptability of a lifestyle intervention among overweight/obese individuals with psoriasis. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted to determine the knowledge of an anti-inflammatory diet for psoriasis and acceptability of lifestyle behaviors (diet, physical activity) as methods to achieve a healthy body weight. Mixed methods data integration techniques will be used to match, merge, and weave the quantitative and qualitative findings. Our expected outcomes are to develop an evidenced-based, tailored, and illness-specific intervention to be used in future research that addresses the burden of psoriasis in overweight/obese individuals.

PI: Kathleen Woolf, Associate Professor of Nutrition, NYU Steinhardt

Co-Investigator: Allison P. Squires, Associate Professor of Nutrition, NYU Rory Myers College of Nursing