Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Traumatic Brain Injury Severity In Older Adults: Impact On Anxiety And Depression Symptoms And Community Engagement, Ashley Tomford

Theses and Graduate Projects

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of physical and cognitive disability worldwide. TBI can negatively impact cognitive, physical, social, and psychological functioning.

Objective: This study investigated interactions between TBI severity, mental health symptom severity, and community engagement among older adults. Specific aims included investigating 1) the relationship between TBI severity at the time of injury and psychiatric symptom severity at one-year post-TBI; 2) the relationship between TBI severity and community engagement at one-year post-TBI; and 3) whether mental health symptom severity moderated the relationship between TBI and post-injury community engagement.

Methods: Archival data was analyzed …

Social Support And Depressive Symptoms Of Older Adults Residing In An Age Segregated Housing Complex, Erica M. Doyen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Research regarding social supports and depression has been extensive with the older adult population except for areas of mid-stzed communities ranging between 25,000 to 75,000. This was an exploratory, cross-sectional study examining the social supports and depressive symptoms of older adults residing in an age segregated housing complex in a Midwest city with a population under 35,000. The participants (N:8), were residents of an age segregated public housing complex. Through the completion of a scheduled stzurdardized interview, the participants answered forty-two questions from the Duke Social Support Index and the Geriatric Depression Scale. The questions were based on current mood …