Study of the Cognitive Benefits of Volunteering–Santa Clara County Project
The Santa Clara County (SCC) Volunteerism Project is key to our mission and one of our premier studies. There is building excitement and optimism about the ability of this project to tap the human capital of SCC workers and retirees, and deploy it to help County residents, primarily youth. The impact of this project will be directed toward:

• Enhancing volunteer participation
• Understanding the benefits of volunteering (improve the physical, mental and cognitive health of volunteers)
• Enhancing community targets (benefits to the recipients of volunteerism)
• Creating a new social norm of volunteering
• Reducing health care costs and utilization (and save the County health care expenditures)
• Becoming the first county in the U.S. to launch such an effort and serve as a model template to other cities, counties and throughout the nation.

We have secured some funding from Santa Clara County to help fund this pilot study where we will test the recruitment and retention of 250 volunteers over 2 years. The MoU and contract between Santa Clara County and Stanford has been completed and signed.  We also were informed that the County has reorganized their hospital system such that they now have funding for paid universal screeners. Therefore, we will be offering our research participants a wide variety of volunteer roles within the County Health and Hospital System, and working closely with their Volunteer Coordinator. We tested our recruitment messages successfully, have developed the research protocol and surveys, and have are submitting this project to institutional review board for approval as a clinical trial.  Once we receive institutional review board approval, we expect to begin recruiting in early 2017.

The Cognition and Retirement Study: Is Working Longer Good for You?
Understanding potential pathways between working and cognitive performance
Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this research study was designed to identify potential mediators to age-related cognitive decline. Based on longitudinal analysis of the Health and Retirement Study data, this study examined the effects of retirement pathways on cognitive outcomes for individuals moving from full-time work into retirement from jobs with varying levels of cognitive complexity. The final manuscript has been submitted for review in a major academic journal.

Hidden in Plain Sight: How Intergenerational Relationships Can Transform Our Future – Monograph released July 2016
In collaboration with Marc Freedman from Encore.org, we have produced a monograph with four chapters designed to represent the collective thinking of attendees of the “Pass It On” conference (held in June 2014) on matching the skills and talents of older Americans with the pressing needs of young people. You can read the report here. The monograph was released nationally together with Encore.org, the Packard Foundation and AARP, in conjunction with events (such as AARP’s national meeting on intergenerational programs) and program launches (such as Encore.org’s launch of their new initiative, Generation to Generation). It was picked up in the popular press and social media, and Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow, Kate Jerome (who contributed to the monograph), was asked to give a TED talk on the importance of connections between older and younger generations based on her experience and work with this project.

We are developing a research agenda directed toward understanding the challenges facing an aging population experiencing sensory changes (in hearing, vision, balance and pain), and finding innovative ways to improve function and well-being through research, policy, and product development. Our vision for this project would be to cover each of the four areas of perception (hearing, vision, balance, and pain), by convening a small group of distinguished experts who represent medicine, law, health policy, psychology, and technology to elaborate key issues, compile existing evidence and identify questions to which answers are needed in order to guide research, inform policies, and to improve products and services.

Thank you to Katherine and David deWilde for the generous donation to fund a launch conference on hearing, on March 14-15, 2017. There are several problems that need to be solved, and research that needs to address these issues, with particular attention to the communication and social issues involved with hearing loss. The goals of the hearing project at the Stanford Center on Longevity will include developing a research and policy agenda in these areas:

• Technology/Medical Advances:  What new technologies need to be developed that accommodate diverse situations?  Are there current technologies or treatments that exist but are not yet being used in service to the hearing impaired?
• Built Environment: How can architecture, acoustics and public space assisted listening devices support better hearing and interactions among people?
• Stigma/Usage:  How can we increase the use of hearing aids (only 20% of Americans with hearing loss use them)? What are the barriers and what interventions can help remove the barriers? How might we simplify and clarify the choices?  What can be done to educate users on the many features of hearing aids, and how can they interact with other devices? How can the public become more aware of the many social, financial, and cognitive implications of untreated hearing loss?
• Policies:  What policies need to be developed and supported that allow for reduced cost of or 3^rd party funding of hearing aids? What policies can improve the integration of assisted listening devices in public spaces?  What are the regulatory issues that need to be addressed?

FACULTY LEADER

• Jeremy Bailenson, PhD
  Associate Professor of Communication; Director, Virtual Human Interaction Lab

FACULTY ADVISORS

• Jonathan Berger, DMA
  Denning Family Provostial Professor, Department of Music; Co-Director of Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCa); Co-Director of Stanford’s Art Initiative; William R. and Gretchen B. Kimball University Fellow in Undergraduate Education
• William Damon, PhD
  Professor of Education and Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution; Director, Center on Adolescence
• Hank Greely, JD
  Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and, Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics; Director, Center for Law and Biosciences
• Michael Greicius, MD
  Assistant Professor, Neurology and Neurological Sciences and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Principal Investigator, Functional Imaging in Neuropsychiatric Disorders Lab
• Gerald Popelka, PhD
  Chief of Audiology, Stanford University School of Medicine; Department of Otolaryngology, Audiology, School of Medicine
• Jeanne Tsai, PhD
  Associate Professor of Psychology; Director, Culture and Emotion Lab

CENTER TEAM

• Amy Yotopoulos
  Director
• Iya Vargas
  Social Science Research Professional

2015-2016 Design Challenge
The Center hosted the Finals of the Challenge on April 5, 2016. The Challenge topic was “Using Happiness to Optimize Longevity” and included three tracks: Mind, Mobility, and Financial Security. A total of 50 submissions were received, with entries from the U.S., Canada. Greece, Japan, Mexico, India, Singapore, Turkey, and Taiwan.  This was our first effort at a Financial Security challenge and unfortunately we did not receive enough entries to create a viable challenge for that track. 30 judges from industry, academia, government and the media selected six finalists each for the Mind and Mobility tracks. These teams were given $1000 to aid with prototyping, paired with mentors in industry, and provided a travel allowance to present at the Finals. Once at Stanford, the teams were given tours of Google, IDEO, and the Stanford dSchool. Following the Finals, they attended a workshop of business plan creation co-hosted by SCL and the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Graduate School of Business.

The winner in the Mind division was “Memoir Monopoly” from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, a tablet-based rehabilitation game platform for dementia patients that integrates photos from the players’ lives into interactive challenges that exercise their memory and recognition abilities. In the Mobility Division, “City Cart” from San Francisco State University took home the $10,000 first prize. City Cart is a re-design of a shopping cart specifically for walking trips in an urban setting. Read more

World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on Healthy Aging Environments

In summer 2016, we participated on a WHO Department of Ageing and Life Course working group on Health Ageing (sic) Environments. The group produced a roadmap delivered at the G7 Health Ministers Meeting in September suggesting actions to be taken in the 2016-2020 timeframe. The roadmap identified three priority areas for action:

1. Implementing a global campaign to combat ageism.
2. Creating a multi-sectoral platform to support the development of age friendly environments.
3. National initiatives to reduce falls and to prevent elder abuse.

SCL remains engaged with the group in developing an action plan for the multi-sectoral platform, which would entail a WHO-funded team to do needs finding, and creation of global innovation platform to allow entrepreneurs around the globe to respond to the needs.

Influencing Nutrition with Taste

The Center is working with Dr. Christopher Gardner at the Stanford Prevention Research Center to develop a project on nutrition. Dr. Gardner has worked on diet and nutrition for over 20 years and has recently become involved with a group of universities and the Culinary Institute of America looking at ways to influence better nutrition beyond the traditional food pyramid approach.  This is essentially “leading with taste” – working with chefs to create menus making the healthy choices ones that are also most appealing.

The focus of the work is on institutional settings as places to perform studies since there is direct control over menus, work is usually supervised by a chef, and there is a repeatable group of diners. Initial work has been at universities (a group of 25) and workplaces (most notably Google).  We are investigating senior providers as a third leg of the work, as food is an important component of senior life and providers are invested in giving their customers the best experiences (both taste and nutrition) for the cost. The outcome of the studies would be recommendations to institutional food providers on menus that encourage better nutrition at various stages in life, as well as comparison of the effectiveness of this approach as compared with traditional nutritional education.

2016-2017 Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge

This year’s challenge – “Innovating Aging in Place” – was launched in early September. The topic was chosen in part to allow students to design around a host of emerging technologies in this space – social engagement solutions, Internet of Things devices, universal home design solutions, and wearables – while learning about the ways in which these designs can support high quality of life across a wide age range.

Phase I of the challenge was an open call to teams from any accredited university in the world to submit to an online platform for judging and selection of 6-8 finalist teams. This phase closed on December 9^th. 75 designs were submitted from 43 universities representing 8 states and 12 countries. This level of participation was approximately 50% higher than previous years, reflecting both the popularity of the topic and the growing global recognition of the challenge.

A group of 30 judges representing industry sponsors and topic experts will select 6-8 finalist teams to be announced on Jan 20, 2017. These teams will compete for the $10,000 first place prize at Stanford on April 27^th. Teams will also be given a full day workshop on business plan development co-sponsored by the Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

FACULTY LEADER

• James Landay, PhD
  Professor of Computer Science

FACULTY ADVISORS

• Thomas Andriacchi, PhD
  Professor of Mechanical Engineering (Biomechanical Operations) and of Orthopedic Surgery
• Karen Cook, PhD
  Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology; Department Chair, Department of Sociology
• Mary Goldstein, MD, MS
  Professor of Medicine (Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research) and, by courtesy, of Health Research and Policy at the PAVAHCS
• William Haskell, PhD
  Professor (Research) of Medicine, Emeritus
• Iris F. Litt, MD
  Marron and Mary Elizabeth Kendrick Professor of Pediatrics, Emerita
• Pamela Matson, PhD
  Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences/ Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at Woods Institute
• Margaret Neale, MS, PhD
  Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Director of the Managing Teams for Innovation and Success Executive Program; Director of the Influence and Negotiation Strategies Executive Program; Co-Director of the Executive Program for Women Leaders

CENTER TEAM

• Ken Smith
  Director
• Jonathan Streeter
  Social Science Research Professional

Improving Public/Private Research Partnerships
We were awarded a multi-year training grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to develop a curriculum for early-stage researchers to improve public/private research partnerships. Research collaborations are typically difficult to establish, limited by privacy concerns, logistical issues and mutual distrust about how the findings might be used. Yet, partnerships between researchers and private sector companies represent extraordinary opportunities to answer important questions about financial decision-making. By training early-stage researchers to effectively establish research partnerships with industry, we can facilitate the development of research projects that promise to improve financial well-being. The first meeting of experts is scheduled for June, 2017.

Working Longer Conference for Practitioners
We have been awarded a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to convene a research conference for practitioners.  The Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research (SIEPR) has been hosting an annual academic conference on the issues of working longer, for the past 4 years.  In discussions with John Shoven (SIEPR) and Kathleen Christensen (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation), we agreed that there were important research findings that could be useful to organizations dealing with multi-generational and aging workforces.  This conference will bring together the academic experts and senior HR executives to review key research findings and discuss the practical workplace implications (late Spring 2017).

Optimizing Retirement Income Solutions in DC Retirement Plans
Two articles on retirement income based on the Retirement Income project, were published in the Journal of Retirement and a third article published in Benefits Magazine.

Optimizing Retirement Income Solutions Integrating In-Plan and Out-of-Plan Strategies
This project analyzes retirement income solutions in IRAs, compares to solutions in employer-sponsored retirement plans, and develops metrics to assess retirement income strategies.  The project is currently under way and we expect completion by mid-2017.

The Milestones Project
This project which is examining how important life milestones, especially those that have a significant influence on financial outcomes (e.g.: education completion, first job, marriage/cohabitation, children, house purchase) are changing generation to generation and across socio-economic groups. The initial analysis confirmed that there have been significant shifts across education and economic groups.  A paper and brief on those findings is being drafted.  A significant finding from that initial analysis has led to a secondary “Milestones” project to further examine how these shifts are affecting women, especially highly educated women and their financial decision-making.  A survey was fielded in December, 2016 and the results are currently being analyzed.

Toolkit Briefs and Webinar Initiative
The goal of this project is to repurpose our library of research into content that can be more easily delivered and understood by a non-academic audience, and with their input on how the content can be used with their employees and stakeholders, we will be rolling it out in early 2017.

Health and Retirement Survey Module on Fraud
We will be working with Profs. Olivia Mitchell (The Wharton School) and Annamaria Lusardi (George Mason University), on a survey module to be included in the Health and Retirement Study.  Data expected to be available in 2017 and we received a grant from TIAA to complete the analysis.

FACULTY LEADER

• John Shoven, PhD
  Charles R. Schwab Professor of Economics; Wallace R. Hawley Director, SIEPR; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Hoover Institution

FACULTY ADVISORS

• Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD
  Associate Professor of Medicine, and by courtesy in Health Research and Policy and Economics
• Gopi Shah Goda, PhD
  Senior Research Scholar and Postdoctoral Fellow Program Coordinator, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
• Hazel Markus, PhD
  Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences
• William F. Sharpe, PhD
  STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus

CENTER TEAM

• Martha Deevy
  Director
• Steve Vernon
  Consulting Research Scholar
• Marti DeLiema, PhD
  Postdoctoral Fellow
• Sasha Freyd-Johnson
  Social Science Research Professional

The Sightlines Website
The website is intended to reach engaged audiences with some knowledge of issues surrounding longevity. The content includes in-depth Sightlines data disaggregated by demographic groups, spotlight webpages featuring the latest news and research on aspects of Healthy Living (e.g., diet), Financial Security (e.g., home ownership), and Social Engagement (e.g., volunteering). In addition, these webpages include interviews with faculty affiliates who have expertise on the spotlight topic and related commentaries that range in perspectives from experts in academia, field work, as well as viewpoints from representatives of specific generations (e.g., Millennials). We are continuing to develop a Tools section that includes downloadable content such as a brief 2 page description of Sightlines and a survey that can be used to assess special populations of interest to see how they might compare to the U.S. population. Please visit http://sightlinesproject.stanford.edu to view these features and more.

Sightlines Demographic Report
The inaugural report generated a great deal of interest in how Sightlines’ findings may or may not differ among subgroups of the American population. For instance, is the uptick in physical activity among Millennials similar for men and women?  Or, is social disengagement seen among Baby Boomers more pronounced for unmarried compared to married individuals? Currently, we are developing the second annual Sightlines report focusing in on such demographic trends including variation by gender, educational attainment, income quartile, marital status, and ethnicity. This second report will provide a more in-depth understanding for the purpose of targeted policy development, interventions, and future research. Since the last Advisory Council meeting, we have compiled, analyzed, and reviewed all demographic subgroup data. Using sophisticated software, we have created appealing visualizations of all data to house on our website with select findings to be featured in the written report. We intend to send a draft of the report to SCL Advisory Council members in the upcoming weeks to obtain feedback. Our hope is to incorporate your suggestions and distribute the final copy by the end of February 2017.

Future Annual Reports
As with the upcoming demographic report in February 2017, we will continue to produce annual reports that describe focused research being conducted within each Sightlines domain. In 2018, we will provide an overview of projects focused on Financial Security, including a more in-depth look at the Milestones project (described below). In 2019 and 2020, we will release reports on focused research in Social Engagement and Healthy Living, respectively. In 2021, we will release our second Sightlines report featuring the next wave of Sightlines data with the intention of illustrating whether any progress has been made since the inaugural report.

The Sightlines Survey
Although we were able to compile data from high quality, nationally representative data sets, there were some limitations of this approach. For instance, many of the outcomes came from different datasets and thus, we were unable to assess how different aspects of one domain relate or how different domains relate to one another. In addition, while we were able to compare groups of Americans at two distinct time points, we were unable to follow the same group of people over time to characterize changes within an individual in living well. Finally, we were restricted to existing measures available to us. (e.g., for social engagement, survey respondents reported how often they interacted with family members outside of the home. There were no measures in the datasets we used that measured interactions with family inside of the home). Therefore, we plan to administer our own survey of Americans using a nationally representative survey panel. Conducting our own survey will advance the Sightlines project aims in four important ways:

1. We will be able to assess how Healthy Living, Financial Security, and Social Engagement relate to one another.
2. We will analyze the composition of each index to determine what makes up the biggest piece of the pie. For instance, what matters most for Healthy Living: physical activity, sleep, diet, etc.?
3. In addition to comparing different groups of people over historical time as in the inaugural report, we will be able to follow the same people of different age groups annually to assess changes in Healthy Living, Financial Security, and Social Engagement as they enter different stages of life.

We will delve deeper into possible explanations for many of the observed patterns identified in the Sightlines project by including additional survey questions refined according to questions raised by the initial analyses.

Focused Research Projects
Within each area, we will focus in on some of the most compelling findings of the initial Sightlines report. These projects range in approach and include webpages highlighting informative and timely news stories and research studies on select topics, comprehensive reviews of the academic literature, analysis of existing datasets, survey and experimental studies, and randomized interventions. Below are examples of projects currently underway in each domain:

• Financial Security: Using data from the national longitudinal survey of youth, we are currently assessing whether shifts in the timing of common life events such as marriage/cohabitation and children is one reason for the lower likelihood of Millennials’ to own a home.
• Healthy Living: Measures of a healthy diet are often erroneous and do not capture what Americans are actually eating. To better capture this, we will be conducting a comprehensive review of the academic literature in both fields of medicine and technology to identify commonly used assessments of diet and determine the possibility of a gold standard approach.
• Social Engagement: Relative to today’s older generation when they were middle-aged, Baby Boomers are less socially engaged.  It is conceivable that this is because they are “sandwiched” between Millennials returning home and aging parents requiring care. We are currently piloting a nationwide survey of family caregivers to begin to explore this idea.

CENTER TEAM

• Tamara Sims
  Research Analyst
• Jialu Streeter
  Research Data Analyst