The graduate student research award is given to spur academic and clinical interest in the field of aging, and rewards the best unpublished graduate research paper on a completed project relevant to aging and applicable to practice. Membership in ASA is not a requirement, but is a consideration.

Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate-degree program or have completed their studies less than one year before submission, and be sponsored by a faculty member. The winner will receive an opportunity to present their paper at the Aging in America conference, complimentary one-year student ASA membership and registration for the Aging in America conference.

Click here to learn more about the 2013 Award Presentations at the Aging in America Conference in Chicago.

2013 Graduate Student Research Award Winner

Jessica Taha

Jessica Taha earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Ohio University in 2001.  She received her Master of Science degree in Occupational Ergonomics and Safety from the University of Miami in 2003 and completed her Ph.D. in Ergonomics at the University of Miami in 2012.  She is now a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  Her research interests include health literacy, health numeracy, electronic personal health records, and aging and technology.

Paper Description

This study investigated the ability of 56 middle-aged adults (40-59 years) and 51 older adults (60-85 years) to use a simulated electronic personal health record (PHR) to perform 15 common health management tasks covering medication management, review/interpretation of lab/test results, and health maintenance activities. The impact of education, Internet experience, cognitive abilities, numeracy, and age on task performance was evaluated.  Results indicated that middle-aged participants performed better than older adults across health management tasks and, in particular, on the more complex tasks.  The importance of Internet experience and numeracy to task performance were evident in this study.  Furthermore, the cognitive abilities predicting task performance were determined to vary according to the complexity of the task.  Findings from this study indicate some important factors to consider in the design of PHRs to meet the needs of middle-aged and older adults.