Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Expanding The Science Of Successful Aging: Older Adults Living In Continuing Care Retirement Communities (Ccrcs), Kathryn H. Petrossi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rowe and Kahns theory of successful aging identifies three main components of aging successfully: reducing the risk of disease and disability, maintaining high cognitive and physical function, and engagement with life. While there is compelling evidence that suggests the legitimacy of this concept in the 50-75 year old community dwelling population, three areas of expansion are necessary: 1.) programmatic research; 2.) extending the existing research samples to include older samples and those living in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs); and 3.) the integration of data collection and analysis to move beyond investigation of just one successful aging outcome to include …

Perceived Competency In Female Primary Caregivers Of Infants And Toddlers With Medical And/Or Developmental Disabilities, Berney J. Wilkinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has clearly demonstrated that variables associated with the family, child, and utilization of social supports relate to parent perceived competency. However, the research has failed to demonstrate which variable best predicts parent perceived competency. The primary goals of this study were to identify those variables that account for the most variability in parent perceived competency, to examine the relative effects of child characteristics on parental psychopathology, and to evaluate the moderating effects of social support on parent perceived competency based upon various parental characteristics. Participants for this survey study consisted of a convenience sample of 91 female primary caregivers …

The Relationship Between Caregiving And Bereavement: A Series Of Three Studies, Allison Burton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spousal bereavement has been consistently demonstrated in the literature to be one of the most highly stressful experiences in an individual’s lifetime. In addition many deaths in the United States are preceded by a period of caregiving, which is also believed to be highly stressful and have a profound impact on bereavement. However the literature has been inconsistent as to the exact nature of the relationship between caregiving and bereavement and there has been some debate as to whether or not positive and negative affect variables are mutually exclusive.

This dissertation sought to further address the issue of the relationship …