Photo credit: OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff
Cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease, disproportionately affects Older African Americans; so does gentrification. SHARP strives to honor Black health and history. The SHARP study is a six month program in Portland, Oregon's historically Black neighborhoods that are undergoing rapid change. SHARP participants walk one-mile themed routes, equipped with a tablet and a digital recorder.
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Our aims are to maintain or improve cognitive health among older African Americans through physical activity and social engagement in a culturally celebratory way that captures the oral history of Portland’s historically Black neighborhoods.
The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery (SHARP) study
The SHARP Study integrates these three brain-healthy behaviors
Physical Activity
Social Engagement
Reminiscence
SHARP's 72 walking routes are accessed on the SHARP application. Each one-mile loop has GPS-triggered Memory Markers to spark conversational reminiscence. Memory Markers are historical neighborhood-based images of local Black culture with question prompts about life, work, and play in North and Northeast Portland, Oregon.
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