# A novel intervention to improve care for older sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults  with serious illness and especially those with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias  (ADRD)

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2023 · $133,554

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Collecting representative and inclusive data about sexual 
orientation and gender identity (SOGI) is a critical component of combating the devastating 
health disparities affecting sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults. This is particularly 
crucial for patients living with ADRD, which is widely regarded as a family disease requiring the 
active caregiver involvement, particularly with advanced disease. Failure to collect and integrate 
SOGI data to identify patients’ informal support systems may have adverse health 
consequences for SGM older adults, particularly for those dependent on informal caregivers to 
provide in-home support and assist with activities of daily living. Improper identification of 
chosen family and caregivers contributes to incomplete care delivery and disenfranchised grief. 
Given the historical discrimination experienced by older SGM people, adding SOGI questions 
without proper training has the potential to harm patients and create staff discomfort rather than 
foster inclusive interactions. For this career development award, I propose to characterize SOGI 
data collection challenges from patients and caregivers enrolling in hospice while exploring 
understudied intersections, such as SGM people living with ADRD, and how they affect staff 
approaches to delivering person-centered care. These insights will be used to develop and pilot 
test an intervention to train hospice interdisciplinary team (IDT) staff to sensitively collect and 
utilize SOGI data to improve communication with SGM patients and caregivers. Candidate, 
Mentors and Proposed Training: I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado 
School of Medicine. My long-term goal is to become a leader in communication aging research 
to reduce health disparities by affecting change for SGM older adults via more effective, personcentered communication. This work will harness my background as a communication health 
researcher, my previous research with hospices and older SGM communities including those 
living with ADRD, and my lived experience as a SGM person. Research Plan: My research aims 
to: 1) characterize barriers and facilitators to communicating with SGM patients and caregivers 
who have a serious illness, with a special emphasis on those with ADRD; 2) develop an 
educational intervention for hospice IDT members to improve communication with older SGM 
patients; and 3) pilot test a novel communication training intervention for feasibility and 
acceptability of behavior change to engage in meaningful dialogue. My training goals include 
developing additional expertise in: 1) statistical methods for testing hypotheses and evaluating
clinical trial interventions; 2) community-based stakeholder engagement and bioethical 
intervention development; and 3) clinical trials and intervention development and evaluation. 
This K01 is critical to my becoming an independent leader in SGM aging research. Implication: 
This p...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10700800
- **Project number:** 5K01AG075141-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Carey B Candrian
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $133,554
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10700800

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10700800, A novel intervention to improve care for older sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults  with serious illness and especially those with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias  (ADRD) (5K01AG075141-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10700800. Licensed CC0.

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