Our Research

The 3D Project—A Deeper Dive into DAPpers—is a multi-method exploration of the DAPpers program starting in 2020.

Aim: To codify the methodology of DAPpers and to underscore the importance of combining an intergenerational framework with art modalities in the effort to empower older adults, caregivers, and young students as they build meaningful connections with each other.

The 3D Project—A Deeper Dive into DAPpers—is a multi-method exploration of the DAPpers program starting in 2020 and directed by a diverse research team of Brown faculty, alumni, and undergraduate students in addition to other members of the ASaP community. The aims of the 3D Project are to codify the methodology of DAPpers and to underscore the importance of combining an intergenerational framework with art modalities in the effort to empower older adults, caregivers, and young students as they build meaningful connections with each other. This work involves the completion of four deliverables, including a scoping review, a retrospective qualitative synthesis of participants’ ethnographies, an intervention manual for clinical dissemination, and a protocol paper to be applied in future research designs. Together, these outputs will have implications for increasing the accessibility of DAPpers to all older adults, caregivers, and students and for reaching the healthcare education sector, where the next generations of healthcare workers are personally supported to provide empathic care.

Purpose

The aims of the Deeper Dive into DAPpers project are to:

  1. Codify the methodology of DAPpers

  2. Underscore the importance of combining an intergenerational framework with art modalities

Study Flowchart

Living with Parkinson’s: A Narrative Installation

Miranda Olson, M.Sc. is an implementation scientist with a focus on accessible delivery of complex interventions. While pursuing undergraduate studies at Brown University, she collaborated with Dr. Sara Houston at the University of Roehampton in London, England as well as participants in her award-winning Dance for Parkinson’s research. In 2015, she interviewed fifteen dancers in the English National Ballet Dance for Parkinson’s class about their life journeys and experiences with Parkinson’s. These interviews culminated in an audio-visual narrative installation at the 2016 ASaP Symposium.

This installation provides a glimpse into the journey of an individual with Parkinson’s. Although each dancer presents with different symptoms and has a different experience with Parkinson’s, themes emerged within their narratives. From pre-Parkinson’s to diagnosis, redefining themselves within a new context to beginning to explore a new world, and finally, from reflecting on their experience to realizing the positive experiences that accompanied a challenging illness. As you listen through this timeline, you will hear from dancers, learning to move through life at different pace. These dancers have diverse backgrounds and different Parkinson’s journeys, but they are united through art and the resulting wellbeing.