Participants in our research efforts consist of both clinical patients and community-dwelling healthy older adults, and so helps us to better understand neurocognitive and real-world implications of medical and neurological diseases. We work closely with The Ohio State University Institutional Review Board to ensure that our research is ethically sound and conducted with utmost privacy and welfare of our patients in mind. In line with international research standards, all personally identifiable information is removed from any clinical data that we collect. Current approved projects are listed below.
Decision Making and Testamentary Capacity in Older Adults
With an increasingly complex modern family structures (e.g., multiple marriages and stepchildren from these relationships) and a projected largest transfer of wealth in human history about to occur in the next 30 years, more comprehensive and standardized assessment procedures for testamentary capacity will be valuable for clinicians working with geriatric populations. Considering the financial ramifications of disadvantageous decision-making abilities and testamentary capacities among some older adults, an efficient assessment process followed by effective intervention that prevents these unnecessary costs. The emphasis of this study is to develop a risk model to detect older adults with weaknesses in decision making and testamentary capacity based on a multimethod neurocognitive evaluation, and to examine the reliability of a psychoeducational intervention for enhancing the decision-making abilities of older adults.
Primary Investigator: Christopher Nguyen, PhD
Participation Status: Open enrollment for older adults
Longitudinal Study of Neuropsychological Assessment
All patients referred for clinical evaluations may be asked if they are willing to have their test results collected for use as part of ongoing research projects. This is so our group is able to monitor various aspects of the evaluation process including referral characteristics, test utilization, outcomes, and reliable change analysis. Participation is voluntary, and whether an individual allows his/her test results to be used for research purposes does not have any impact on their evaluation. Results are reported in aggregate form, with no way of identifying individual participants, primarily in scholarly journal publications.
Primary Investigator: Christopher Nguyen, PhD
Participation Status: Open enrollment for clinical patients
Cognitive Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson Disease
To evaluate differences in decision making between patients with Parkinson Disease on and off medication compared to healthy controls prior and after deep brain stimulation.
Primary Investigator: Christopher Nguyen, PhD
Participation Status: Open enrollment for clinical patients
Perioperative Cognitive Protection – Cognitive Exercise and Cognitive Reserve
To examine the influence of preoperative cognitive exercise compared to no intervention on the occurrence of post-operative delirium (PD) in an elderly population undergoing non-cardiac/non-neurological surgery.
Primary Investigator: Christopher Nguyen, PhD
Participation Status: Closed for enrollment