# A Dyadic Sleep Intervention for Alzheimers Disease Patients and Their Caregivers

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $201,163

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Yeonsu Song, PhD, RN, FNP-C is an Assistant Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and
is fully committed to becoming an independently-funded investigator specializing in sleep in individuals with
cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers. She has a particular interest in
testing a dyadic sleep intervention program for Alzheimer’s disease patients and their informal caregivers. Dr.
Song’s unique background makes her an ideal candidate for this field of research. She has fellowship training
in advanced geriatrics, and has board certification in advanced practice nursing as a family nurse practitioner.
She is currently supported by an Advanced Fellowship in Geriatrics through the Veterans Affairs (VA) Greater
Los Angeles Healthcare System, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC).
Career development and training plan: This plan features an outstanding research and educational
environment at UCLA, with nationally renowned expert mentors. Her primary mentoring team is comprised of
Drs. Jennifer Martin (expert in behavioral sleep interventions), Cathy Alessi (expert in sleep medicine), Michael
Irwin (expert in inflammatory factors and sleep), and Edmond Teng (expert in assessment of AD). She will also
draw on resources available through UCLA’s CTSI, UCLA’s Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and
Gerontology, UCLA’s Claude D. Pepper Center, and the GRECC. Her training plan features carefully curated
coursework and hands-on training experiences, all aligned with her training goals.
Research plan: The proposed research is hypothesis-driven and guided by preliminary data from Dr. Song’s
VA-funded pilot study and existing behavioral sleep intervention methods. During the past 2 years of her
fellowship, she has developed a dyadic sleep intervention program. In phase 1 (Aim 1), she will iteratively
refine and finalize the intervention program targeting both members of the dyad (patients and caregivers) by
evaluating acceptability and usability. In phase 2 (Aims 2-4) she will pilot test the program effects by assessing
sleep, health, and quality of life in both members of the group using a small randomized controlled trial design,
with the main analyses focused on caregiver outcomes. The intervention program will involve five sessions,
including 4 home visits and one telephone session. It will include manualized sleep hygiene recommendations
and a behavioral sleep intervention including sleep compression therapy. A unique aspect of the proposed
work is that the program is tailored to address sleep problems of both patients and caregivers, and includes
upstream biomarkers to evaluate a key mechanism of intervention benefits that can be further explored in
future research. Skills developed from executing this training and research plan will enable Dr. Song to
become an independent researcher and a leader in research on managing sleep in AD patients and their
car...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10145563
- **Project number:** 5K23AG055668-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Yeonsu Song
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $201,163
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10145563

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10145563, A Dyadic Sleep Intervention for Alzheimers Disease Patients and Their Caregivers (5K23AG055668-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10145563. Licensed CC0.

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