Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

A Randomized Trial Of A Multicomponent Home Intervention To Reduce Functional Difficulties In Older Adults, Laura N. Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Marie P. Dennis, Mary Corcoran, Walter W. Hauck

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

OBJECTIVES: To test the efficacy of a multicomponent intervention to reduce functional difficulties, fear of falling, and home hazards and enhance self-efficacy and adaptive coping in older adults with chronic conditions.

DESIGN: A prospective, two-group, randomized trial. Participants were randomized to a treatment group or no-treatment group.

SETTING: Urban community-living older people.

PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred nineteen community-living adults aged 70 and older who reported difficulty with one or more activities of daily living.

INTERVENTION: Occupational and physical therapy sessions involving home modifications and training in their use; instruction in strategies of problem-solving, energy conservation, safe performance, and fall recovery techniques; …

The Role Of Spiritual Well-Being In Moderating Frail Elders' Affective Response To Functional Difficulty, Marie P. Dennis, Laura N. Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Yeon K. Chee

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Anxiety and depression have been well documented as affective consequences of functional impairment. Little research, however, has examined factors that moderate these associations. The present cross-sectional study examined the role of spiritual well-being in buffering the impact of functional difficulty on the anxiety and depressive symptoms of 319 functionally vulnerable community-dwelling elders, aged 70 or older, participating in a 6-month randomized controlled trial designed to enhance function. As demonstrated in recent research on spirituality and health, we expected that spiritual well-being would moderate the association between functional difficulty and anxiety as well as the relationship between functional difficulty and depression. …

What Is Valuation Of Life For Frail Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Factor Structure And Criterion Validity Of The Vol, Marie P. Dennis, Laraine Winter, Helen K. Black, Laura N. Gitlin

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Lawton et al. (1999) defined valuation of life (VOL) as a cognitive-affective schema consisting of complex judgments, emotions and projections influenced by demographic and QOL factors. However, little is known about what constitutes VOL for frail elders. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a 13-item version of Lawton et al's. (2001) VOL Scale and examined correlational evidence in support of its construct validity with 319 elders enrolled in the Project ABLE study. Responses of half the sample (N=159) were submitted to principal axis factoring, yielding two factors (spiritual well-being, a = .88 and goal-related self-efficacy, a = .84), …

The Tension Of Loss In Old Age, Christa Caruso, Helen K. Black

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Our poster is based on a larger qualitative study that explores the personal meaning of suffering to 122 community-dwelling elders. Because loss in old age emerges as a significant aspect of suffering in elders' narratives, we focus on suffering as loss. We are recruiting community dwelling elders aged 80 and above, stratified by ethnicity, gender and self-reported health for extended qualitative interviews. Respondents tell their life story and story of suffering along with personal definitions of suffering. Through narrative analysis we examine responses to the many losses experienced during a long life and the suffering that results from loss. By …