# The PorchLight Project

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2024 · $614,382

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 The proposed R01 project will feature a robust collaboration between Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
(LSS-MN) and the University of Minnesota to evaluate the “Porchlight Project,” a novel adaption of its volunteer
programs that serve older persons with Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease related dementia
(AD/ADRD). The Porchlight Project is multicomponent training delivered to volunteers and includes three
established online training modules on person-centered dementia care; a four-session online training program
that demonstrates to volunteers how to apply person-centered dementia care knowledge to their interactions
with persons with dementia and their caregivers; and ongoing monthly coaching sessions. We will evaluate the
real-world efficacy of the Porchlight Project throughout Minnesota and randomly assign a minimum of 171
persons with AD/ADRD, family caregivers, and volunteers across 19 Regional Program Coordinator regions to
one of two groups: one that receives the Porchlight Project over a 12-month period and a usual care control
condition that receives standard volunteer support. An embedded experimental mixed methods design will be
utilized that will incorporate various qualitative data collection elements within the 12-month randomized
controlled evaluation of the Porchlight Project (Stage III of the NIH Stage Model). Twelve month outcomes that
we hypothesize the Porchlight Project will influence include: 1) increased volunteer competence; 2) increases
in quality of life and reduced loneliness for the person with AD/ADRD; and 3) increased self-efficacy,
decreased stress, and improved well-being for caregivers. The Porchlight Project offers a potentially efficient,
wide-ranging service model for states and communities to implement that can facilitate the “dementia
capability” of their various volunteer programs. Moreover, creating effective linkages to community-based
long-term services and supports addresses several goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease
as well as the recent Dementia Care Services and Support summits.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10794936
- **Project number:** 5R01AG075890-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEPH E. GAUGLER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $614,382
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-02-01 → 2027-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10794936

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10794936, The PorchLight Project (5R01AG075890-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10794936. Licensed CC0.

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