When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States and Indiana, communities went into lockdown as people tried to practice physical and social distancing. As the days and weeks of distancing continued, many began to wonder how this change in socialization would affect various populations.
Evan Finley is the project director for Social Networks and Alzheimer’s Disease (SNAD) study, which is part of the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (IADRC). The SNAD study provided an opportunity to pivot and look at the pandemic’s effect on this specific population. The study has been researching people’s social interactions, their behaviors, and overall mental health since 2016.
“We try to find patterns of who they interact with, what their relationships are like, and find associations with cognitive changes,” Finley said. It is possible that the research will point to people with social contraction will show some loss of cognition or that people who have cognitive issues are socially withdrawing themselves.
When the pandemic started, the study shifted to look into how people’s behaviors had changed with the stay-at-home and social distancing orders. Researchers are interested in how a participant’s quality of life has changed, along with how the previous four years of study data will compare to the past four to six months of data.
“Because we look at social networks and how people interact with their peers, friends, family, neighbors, we have previous data on them, and we wanted to see how that was changing due to the stay-at-home order,” Finley said.
The IADRC hosts several LHSI interns each year. Interns who worked with the SNAD study made phone calls and provided data collection and data entry. Previously, the interns accompanied coordinators on personal visits to study participants, but the pandemic afforded them the opportunity to operate independently and speak with participants one-on-one via phone. The interns and their contributions are integral to the study and research.
“When we don’t have interns, life is hard,” Finley said. “When we have a strong set of interns, they do all of the behind the scenes work that is really important in research. They’ve been really great to work with.”