Our Research Updates in Archways give a snapshot of the Rice ARCHES Initiative’s current work, research progress, and future directions.

Connecting with Our Community

This month Dr. Angie LeRoy, a post-doctoral Research Fellow on our team in the Department of Psychological Sciences, discusses community engagement.

In Project CHROMA, we are recruiting individuals over the age of 70 and/or diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment to participate in our study of how music creativity can benefit cognition and social/emotional wellbeing. As part of our efforts to integrate the community with our research goals, we make a concerted effort to enhance our visibility at community events. 

We feel that connecting with community members is important, not only to recruit community members to participate in our study, but also to give back to our community through communicating empirical research findings. In doing so, we hope to educate the public about the most recent research in the area of health psychology, with a specific focus on preventing poor health outcomes among our aging population.

Recently, I did a public educational talk about Alzheimer’s Disease and Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, at the annual Rice Alzheimer’s Buddies Symposium. I also discussed strategies that we may be able to use to slow down the progression to Alzheimer’s by early intervention. For example, through the use of music—as we are doing with the Rice ARCHES Initiative. 

We received positive feedback from the audience, which consisted of people of all ages and demographics. After the talk, some nursing students who were inspired by hearing about our work, approached our information booth to ask more about the study and inquire about volunteering to work on the project. 

Moving forward, our team will continue to prioritize connecting with community members to enhance our visibility and spread awareness!