# UPLIFT-AD (Utilizing Palliative Leaders in Facilities to Transform care for Alzheimer's Disease) intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2020 · $808,236

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Nursing homes (NH) are a critical site of care for people with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
(ADRD), particularly near the end of life. By 2030, an estimated 40% of all U.S. deaths will occur in NHs; 70%
of people with advanced dementia live their final days in a NH. Unfortunately, NH care is associated with
inadequate symptom control, low family satisfaction, burdensome treatments, and poor quality of care near the
end of life. Palliative care is a patient/family-centered model of care focused on maximizing quality of life and
relieving the suffering of people with serious illness. Despite growing recognition that palliative care is effective
for improving quality of life and quality of care and appropriate for NH residents with ADRD, there are a paucity
of sustainably-designed and tested models for NHs and palliative care practices to implement. We propose an
evidence-informed intervention that provides both internal capacity-building strategies for NHs, as well as
external specialty palliative care support, to impact the overall quality of care for residents with ADRD. The
objective of this proposal is to conduct a stepped wedge trial of the UPLIFT-AD (Utilizing Palliative Leaders In
Facilities to Transform care for Alzheimer's Disease) intervention. The UPLIFT-AD bundle includes 1) an in-
house palliative care champion who will receive training to facilitate advance care planning conversations with
residents with ADRD and their surrogate decision-makers, screen residents for palliative care needs and serve
as a liaison to external palliative care consultants; and 2) specialty palliative care consultant support providing
individual resident consults and staff education. Consistent with the goals of PAS-18-030, the UPLIFT-AD
intervention is designed to improve the quality of care and quality of life for persons with ADRD near the end of
life. In order to achieve this we will conduct a stepped wedge trial in partnership with two palliative care
practices and 16 NHs involving a projected 640 residents with dementia in two states with the following aims:
1) Compare quality of care of ADRD residents in intervention and control periods using the EOLD-CAD
instrument (primary trial outcome) which assesses symptom management and comfort, administered to both
family members and NH staff; compare family satisfaction with care at the end of life (EOLD-SWC) for ADRD
residents' families in intervention vs. control periods; 2) Evaluate the implementation of UPLIFT-AD using the
RE-AIM framework, including the proportion of eligible residents who receive palliative care assessments and
the degree of adoption of the intervention; 3) Compare staff knowledge/attitudes about palliative care, using
the Palliative Care Survey. If successful, the UPLIFT-AD bundle will serve as a much-needed, replicable
model for palliative care support for residents with ADRD and will be primed for rapid translation. In an
environment with increased incentives fo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9943631
- **Project number:** 1R01AG066922-01
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** John Garland Cagle
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $808,236
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9943631

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9943631, UPLIFT-AD (Utilizing Palliative Leaders in Facilities to Transform care for Alzheimer's Disease) intervention (1R01AG066922-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9943631. Licensed CC0.

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