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Research Aims

The HealthyPhases Project is structured around three primary Research Aims that guide our scientific approach and methodology:

Aim 1: Develop ontologies for solitude, gerotranscendence, and healthy aging research​

We will develop two ontologies – the Solitude Ontology and the Gerotranscendence Ontology – each extending from and so connected by the Behavior Change Intervention Ontology, to cover gerotranscendence and solitude constructs, relevant developmental psychology theories, measurements, and interventions. These ontologies will be developed and refined through consensus-building meetings with subject-matter experts, following principles of and reusing terms from the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies Foundry.

Aim 2: Create an open-access ontology-based web interface integrating solitude, gerotranscendence, and healthy aging data​

Relevant solitude and gerotranscendence data will be mapped to our ontologies from the National Library of Medicine and the Open Science Foundation, using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources as a common data model. The results will underwrite a web portal featuring a recommender system, allowing researchers to remain up-to-date on research using ontology-based enrichment strategies, and a cross-article question-answer system, matching natural language queries to answers based on intricate relationships among constructs.

Aim 3: Promote our ontologies, train stakeholders to investigate the impact of solitude on successful aging and disseminate results to the broader community​

We will train stakeholders to use our portal to investigate relationships between solitude and gerotranscendence constructs, and healthy aging, the results of which will be disseminated in research articles, to include reviews of solitude and gerotranscendence literature, a technical report on the uses of our portal, and articles describing our ontology work.

Through these three interconnected aims, the HealthyPhases Project will create a semantic foundation that bridges isolated research areas and advances our understanding of the complex relationship between solitude experiences and healthy aging.