Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Volunteering Among Surviving Spouses: The Impact Of Volunteer Activity On The Health Of The Recently Widowed, Kimberly J. Johnson

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies link volunteering to positive mental and physical health for older adults, and recent studies have suggested that volunteering may be particularly beneficial for those who are widowed. This research examines the potential of volunteering to buffer participants from stress-related health declines associated with the death of a spouse.

Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this research investigates the moderating role of volunteering on the self-rated health and depressive symptoms of recently widowed older adults. Consecutive waves of the HRS are used to identify respondents who experience the death of a spouse or who remain married, and those …

Seeing Adoption With Eyes Wide Open, Cheryl Millman

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Families who choose to adopt may do so for a variety of reasons. Some may choose to adopt due to infertility or medical issues with one or both of the parents, so they may choose to adopt to avoid the risk of passing on a genetic or medical condition. Some may believe they are saving a child who otherwise would not grow up with the benefits of a loving and supportive family, and some choose to adopt because they lack an appropriate partner with whom to have a biological child. Regardless of the reason, parents believe that with love and …

Healthy Aging In Massachusetts: Reporting Indicators, Identifying Resources & Activating Allies, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Chae Man Lee, Kristina Turk

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

In Massachusetts, a Healthy Aging Collaborative comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders has been formed for multiple purposes: information sharing around healthy aging, idea generation, partnership building and activity mapping.

Lift Up Your Voice! Health Care Advocacy Training Program: Empowering Older Adults, Nina M. Silverstein, Alison Gottlieb, Kelli Barton, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) is a health care advocacy training program developed by Community Catalyst and funded through Atlantic Philanthropies. LUYV directly engages older adults with chronic disease in state-based Campaign for Better Care initiatives to achieve changes in the health care delivery system.

Pension Action Center, Michele Tolson, Pension Action Center, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Pension Action Center (PAC) strives to improve retirees’ and workers’ standard of living in retirement through individual case advocacy; referrals to appropriate programs and professionals; and issue analysis and reform of public policy. The center, which is part of the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston, focuses on the experience of participants in retirement plans throughout its work. The PAC is a one-of-a-kind organization in New England that touches the lives of thousands of people.

Planning For The Growing Older Population: Conducting Community Needs Assessments, Caitlin Coyle, Hayley Gravette, Jan Mutchler, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Goals and Objectives: To describe the aging population of each community; To investigate the needs, interests and opinions of mature residents relating to their aging needs for age-related services in their respective communities; To provide recommendations to community partners and their stakeholders about how to create strong communities for older adults, based on needs assessment results; Generate reports and other documents to be used by the Department of Elder Services, other town offices, organizations that provide services, advocates, and community members.

Important Places, Shaun O'Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author talks about his time and associations with the University of Massachusetts Boston. He also describes Ireland and his family's roots there and how it connects with Boston as well as his life in New York.

This article originally appeared in a 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy (Volume 20, Issue 2): http://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol20/iss2.

Community Mediation Of Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila Obstfeld Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Community mediation, characterized by free or low cost mediation services delivered primarily by volunteer mediators, aims to provide effective dispute resolution services to a broad spectrum of the population, particularly to underserved and low-income populations. The present study seeks to determine whether community mediation fulfills this goal with respect to divorce/separation-related parenting disputes while concomitantly testing the legitimacy of concerns about the quality of mediation services offered according to a community mediation model. Thus, the effectiveness of community mediation in resolving these disputes is measured through indicators reported by mediation participants, such as the population served, mediation results and party …

The National Elder Economic Security Standard Index, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) is a new tool for use by policy makers, older adults, family caregivers, service providers, aging advocates, and the public at large. Developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the Elder Index is a measure of income that older adults require to maintain their independence in the community and meet their daily costs of living, including affordable and appropriate housing and health care. The development and use of the Elder Index promotes a measure of income that respects the autonomy goals of …

How Youth Are Put At Risk By Parents’ Low-Wage Jobs, Lisa Dodson, Randy Albelda, Diana Salas Coronado, Marya Mtshali

Center for Social Policy Publications

In this report, we present a first-ever overview of what is known about the relationship between the status of youth and their parents’ low-wage jobs. Of the 20 million adolescents with working parents, 3.6 million (one out of every six) are in low-income families where parents have low-wage jobs. We identify several ways that young people are harmed by their parents’ low-wage, low-quality jobs that point to the urgency of this issue.

Evaluation Of Lift Up Your Voice! Advocacy Training For Older Adults And Their Caregivers: Executive Summary, Alison Gottlieb, Nina M. Silverstein, Kelli Barton

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) training, a component of Community Catalyst’s effort to support the Campaign for Better Care (CBC), is designed to mobilize grassroots advocacy structures of vulnerable older adults by directly engaging and empowering older adults and their caregivers. The goal of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness LUYV in recruiting potential advocates, educating them about the health care reform, empowering them via advocacy skills training, and engaging them in state-based CBC activities.

Louis D. Brown Peace Institute Burial Guide Training, Funded By American Sociological Association, Stephanie Hartwell, Camila Mejia

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Community Action Research Initiative (CARI) involves the dissemination and implementation of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s (LDBPI) “Burial and Resource Guide” and a corresponding evaluation. The burial guide is a “step-by-step” manual with sections including: notification and correspondence with family, friends, funeral homes, officials, services and insurance companies; writing guidelines for obituaries and media statements; and tracking and contacts with police, medical examiners, and victim advocates after the murder of a loved one. The guide also includes exercises and resources for healing/coping. This is possibly the first specialized guide for survivors of homicide.

The Parent Mediation Program – A Pathway To Cooperative Parenting, Mette Kreutzmann, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Parent Mediation Program is a community-based program for parents who are no longer able to live together but still want to co-parent. The Program partners with five Community Mediation Centers. Funding is provided by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division through a child access and visitation grant from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Evaluating Economic Security For Massachusetts Seniors, Jan Mutchler, Ellen A. Bruce, Alison Gottlieb, Jiyoung Lyu, Yao‐Chi Shih, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Elder Economic Security Standard Index measures the income that Massachusetts’ seniors need to maintain independence and meet basic living expenses. The sizable gap between Social Security benefits and living expenses occurs throughout Massachusetts, but is more substantial for singles than for couples. Those who are older, single, female or a member of a racial or ethnic minority group are exposed to especially high risk of falling short of Index values. The Elder Index estimates the living costs for seniors in every locality in the country and serves as a valuable tool for community members, policy makers, and those working …

Mothers In Prison: Maintaining Connections With Children, Sylvia Mignon, Paige Ransford

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The significant increase in the number of incarcerated women ensures that many children must live without their mothers for some period of time. Women in prison were interviewed about their efforts to maintain relationships with their children. Mail and telephone contacts were more frequent than actual visits. Almost one half of mothers had never received a visit from their children. This article identifies challenges to the development and maintenance of contact between incarcerated mothers and their children. Recommendations are made for correctional agencies to enhance opportunities for incarcerated mothers to foster positive connections with their children.

The Massachusetts Elder Economic Security Index (2011), Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Elder Economic Security Standard^TM Index measures the income that Massachusetts’ seniors need to maintain independence and meet their basic living expenses in the community. The Elder Index uses an income measure that reflects the actual expenses for basic needs of older adults, and includes cost estimates for housing, food, medical care, transportation, and household essentials. Elder Index values are calculated for each state, on a county-by-county basis, providing policy makers and individuals a benchmark for determining what income or governmental supports are needed in their communities.

Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For North Carolina, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for North Carolina’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For South Dakota, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for South Dakota’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

The Role Of Home Environments In Residential Adjustment Decision Making In Later Life, Kimberly Joy Stoeckel

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Using the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, this research explored the multi-faceted influence of the accessibility of housing environments on the occurrence and characteristics of residential adjustments made by older adults aged 70 or older. A range of housing adjustment outcomes were examined, including home modifications and relocation into age-segregated senior housing. Analysis of the accessibility gains following relocation was also included in the empirical analyses.

The Ecological Theory of Aging (Lawton & Nahemow, 1973) provided the conceptual framework for the research. The longitudinal design of the HRS empirically advanced understanding of the key theoretical constructs by sensitizing the …

Senior Transportation Abstracts: A Focus On Options, Helen Kerschner, Nina M. Silverstein

Gerontology Institute Publications

This collection of abstracts represents a publication of importance for understanding the needs, challenges, solutions, and/or every day issues related to senior transportation services. While several of the abstracts include information about senior driver safety, the collection’s primary purpose is to present a holistic approach to transportation options for older adults. Such a collection is timely because, although the practice of providing transportation to older adults is not new, research and preparation of practical informational and technical materials related to older adult transportation service needs and service delivery are quite recent.

Coming Of Age In Marshfield: A Needs Assessment Of Aging Services, Jan Mutchler, Sandra Mccoskrie Blanchette

Gerontology Institute Publications

The purpose of this needs assessment is to investigate the needs, interests, and opinions of mature residents of Marshfield, Massachusetts, relating to their aging experiences and needs for age‐related services. On behalf of the Marshfield Council on Aging (COA), this assessment was conducted by the Collins Center for Public Management and the Gerontology Institute of the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston. The focus of this report is on Marshfield residents aged 60+ (referred to here as “Seniors”) and residents aged 45‐59 (referred to here as “Boomers”). Information about these two age groups was obtained both through the U.S. Census …

Massachusetts Senior Legal Assistance Project Needs Evaluation: Current Demand For Legal Services, Alison Gottlieb, Lauren A. Martin, Ellen A. Bruce

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston was contracted to conduct a statewide needs assessment for the MSLAP. As agreed upon by the MSLAP Advisory Board, the focus of this assessment was to analyze the demand for services Massachusetts legal service providers have experienced recently as a means to understanding the legal needs of Massachusetts elders (age 60 and older). A second needs assessment was conducted by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. That needs assessment surveyed home care workers and other elder agency personnel to gauge their assessment of elders’ legal needs in Massachusetts. Read together, …

Protecting Your Retirement Savings From Potential Creditors, Pension Action Center, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Pension Action Center Publications

State and federal laws provide strong protections to New England residents to shield their retirement savings from creditors. The particular protections available depend on whether you have filed for bankruptcy, how your retirement savings are kept, and where you live.

Chinese-Born Seniors On The Move: Transnational Mobility And Family Life Between The Pearl River Delta And Boston, Massachusetts, Nicole Newendorp

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

My account here of Chinese seniors’ migration trajectories to the U.S. in recent years builds on this increasing scholarly focus on the dialectic of the individual and collective in Chinese transnational family life by examining the motivations and desires of senior migrants who make use of recent opportunities for transnational mobility between China and the U.S. to reunite with family in the U.S.—all the while leaving other family members behind in China.

Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs: Relevance For Persons With Dementia, Nina M. Silverstein, Alison S. Gottlieb

Gerontology Institute Publications

The context for this study is the work of the Healthy Brain Initiative. The CDC has established a cooperative agreement with the Alzheimer’s Association to develop and implement a multifaceted approach to look at cognitive health as a public health issue. Late in 2010, the Association commissioned a review of the major chronic disease prevention programs from a systems approach to begin to understand the source of findings that Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s and related disorders are much higher cost than those simply with a single chronic disease and no AD. This led to the conclusion that Chronic Disease Self‐Management …

Poverty In Massachusetts For Families With Children, Randy Albelda, Ferry Cadet, Dinghong Mei

Center for Social Policy Publications

Massachusetts has lower poverty rates compared to the US average for all families with children. The poverty rates for female-headed families with children (single mother families) are 5.5 times higher than those of married couples with children in Massachusetts and the US.

Poverty rates for families with children differ considerably across Massachusetts’ ten largest cities, and are typically considerably higher than the Massachusetts average for all family types. Springfield has the highest poverty rates for each family type with children while Quincy has the lowest.

Fun With Numbers: Disclosing Risk To Individual Investors, Christian A. Weller

Gerontology Institute Publications

This paper discusses the need for better information on investment risks. The information should be relevant, concise, and accessible to individual investors. More and better information on factors that are likely to influence an investment’s performance and investors’ decisions should eventually lead to better investment decisions – more savings and higher retirement incomes. This paper presents a number of ways to disclose risk to individual investors. There are three numerical and three visual representations to risk. The discussion centers on the pros and cons of each risk representation. All risk descriptions show relevant information, are concise, and more or less …

Massachusetts’ Home Care Programs And Reasons For Discharge Into Nursing Homes, Cathy M. Wong, Nina M. Silverstein

Gerontology Institute Publications

Home and community-based services (HCBS) are a range of long-term care services intended to enable older adults and persons with disabilities to “age in place” in their own homes and communities. Previous studies well document that older adults prefer receiving HCBS rather than institutional care at a nursing home. One study concluded that 84 percent of older Americans, aged 50 years and older, want to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Medicaid is a major source of funding for long term care. Currently, a large proportion of Medicaid funds in most states has been spent on institutional, …

Massachusetts State Public Worker Retirees: How Are They Doing?, Ellen A. Bruce, Lauren A. Martin

Gerontology Institute Publications

Although much has been made of the Massachusetts State Retirement System’s funding and abuses, little has been written about the benefits it provides. A retirement system should be judged first on whether it meets its goal of providing for workers in retirement.

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Washington, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Washington’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.