Investigators
Alan M. Garber (Principal Investigator) - Stanford University
Laura L. Carstensen (Co-Principal Investigator) - Stanford University

The Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging (CADMA) at Stanford conducts and promotes research that explores how older Americans make decisions regarding their health and well-being, with the goal of developing and implementing practical methods that will help them make informed, effective decisions.

CADMA, administered by Stanford University's Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research (CHP/PCOR), is truly an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental effort. Collaborators are drawn from the fields of health policy, geriatrics, economics, medical informatics, psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, and other fields at Stanford and at other institutions, including the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Why study decision making among the elderly? There is little doubt that financial, lifestyle and healthcare decisions have a far-reaching impact on the well-being of the elderly. In recent years, the decisions older Americans face have become increasingly complex and pervasive in their lives. Given these realities, a more complete understanding of the decision making process is required to develop better ways to frame decisions and present information, so that decisions are fully informed and their outcomes are desirable, whether these decisions are made by older people themselves or by others, such as friends, family, healthcare providers, government officials or other policymakers.

The research conducted at CADMA has the following specific aims:

• to investigate the roles that age-related changes in emotion and cognition play in decision making, especially those surrounding complex topics, such as choice of health plan, and emotionally charged topics, such as death and dying.
• to learn how decision making processes influence day-to-day choices, such whether to pursue strenuous exercise or a restrictive diet, which in turn influence health and functional status at advanced ages.
• to develop and evaluate support mechanisms provided during or before medical visits, for patients who face difficult medical decisions, by integrating computer-based decision support tools with electronic medical records systems.

The results of the center's research will be disseminated to patients, their families, their healthcare providers and to policymakers, in addition to being published in scholarly journals.

CADMA is one of 10 Edward R. Roybal Centers for Research on Applied Gerontology, funded by the National Institute on Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health). Named for former House Select Committee on Aging Chair Edward R. Roybal, the centers are designed to translate social and behavioral research findings into programs and policies aimed at improving the health, quality of life and productivity of older Americans.

Links to other Roybal Centers

• Indiana University Center for Aging Research
• Princeton University Center for Health & Wellbeing
• RAND Roybal Center for Health Policy Simulation
• RAND Roybal Center for Financial Decision Making
• Oregon Center for Aging & Technology
• Cornell Roybal Center for Translational Research
• Edward R. Roybal Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Center for Research on Health and Aging

Contact
Moira McKinnon

Funding provided by
• National Institute on Aging
• National Institutes of Health