Gerontological Quality of Life Research (GQOL)

Group Leader: Dr. Sandra Oppikofer

Overview

The main focus of this interdisciplinary research group is to initiate, conduct and evaluate outreach research projects and activities in different contexts, including the acquisition of a national, longitudinal evidence base regarding an individualized quality of life intervention for elderly individuals suffering from dementia and their caregivers.

Applied Research and Innovation Potential

The work of this research group represents the core initiative for a proactive alignment between basic research, practice, and implementation. It is based on designing complex intervention environments allowing individuals to engage their abilities to self-selected, varying degrees. Complex intervention environments include museum, art and cultural activities, music and sound, novel therapeutic approaches (e.g. therapeutic touch) with pain patients, different care settings and physical activity. It uses multiple data sources and -collection (e.g., ambulatory assessment) in real-life environments within a participatory approach.

It enables interdisciplinary conceptualization, translation into practice and fund raising of highly innovative studies (e.g. conceptualization of dementia-Music Circles study with harp player or Artists in Residence: artists working and living in old age residences).

In addition, the group provides young researchers with support in their career building as they are being integrated in a highly sustainable healthy aging research support platform (e.g., real world measurements, methodological expertise).

As such the group has and will continue their involvement as experts on different projects and levels with policy makers in Switzerland.

Data Access and Exchange

All of our research data is available upon request and in consultation with the research partners.