
Ruth E Dunkle- University of Michigan
Ruth E Dunkle
- University of Michigan
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73
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Publications (73)
Cognitive decline is one of the most common age-related stereotypes. The stereotype embodiment theory suggests that negative age stereotypes can be internalized through socialization and become negative self-perceptions of aging (SPA). However, the potential mediating role social relationships play between SPA and cognitive health remains unclear....
Contact with children is an important source of support for older adults. It is not clear if relocation and proximity to a child affect in-person communication as well as telephone, email, and social media contact between older parents and children. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (2014-2018: N=3,332) we examined changes in communic...
Background:
Older adults living in subsidized housing may be at increased risk of social isolation. Applied theater, a participatory art program, can facilitate social connections among older adults.
Methods:
A professionally-facilitated 12-week acting and improvisation course was held in two federally subsidized buildings in an urban setting. T...
A Village is a membership-driven organization based on neighbors helping neighbors age in place. Many Villages express difficulty maintaining membership and have concerns about sustainability. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, we used qualitative and quantitative data from a representative survey of members of ShareCare (N = 91), the fi...
This qualitative study compares perspectives of nurses (n = 5) and social workers (n = 12) about their role in caring for patients with dementia with behavioral and psychological problems in an acute care setting. A thematic qualitative analysis was conducted using the Rigorous and Accelerated Data Reduction Technique (RADaR). Three themes emerged:...
Creative arts such as acting can promote social contact and bonding among socially isolated populations. Yet the benefits of art programming among older adults in low-income urban settings remain unexplored. A professionally administered theater group comprised of older adults living in urban low-income housing met for 12 weeks to learn acting skil...
People join a customer-driven organization with motivations that may not be static over time, an important issue for long-term organizational viability. In this study, we examined motivations among members of ShareCare, the first Village for older adults in the U.S. Using qualitative data from a random sample of 91 members, we compared motivations...
Nurses and social workers in acute care settings have unique perspectives about providing care to persons living with dementia (PLwD) who experience behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Their distinctive roles and training have important implications for the recovery and well-being of PLwDs during hospital stays. This study uti...
Living in a neighborhood with dense HCBS organizations can promote older adults’ health and well-being and may mitigate health disparities generated by living in materially deprived urban neighborhoods. Using 2016 US County Business Patterns and the American Community Survey (2013–2017), focused on 516 ZIP Codes in Michigan Metropolitan Statistical...
Many older people want to age in place with one popular model of care being the Village Model. Understanding why people join and why they continue as members are important considerations for a Village to survive. Utilizing open-ended data from a representative sample of current members of a Village (N=100), we examined the reasons for people becomi...
Arts-based interventions can enhance the quality of life of older adults, but community-dwelling older adults may have reduced access to such interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a creative arts program can improve the overall health and well-being of older adults in low-income housing. A university social work department...
Creative arts can promote social contact and possibly reduce isolation. A professionally run theater group comprised of low-income older adults met for 12 weeks to learn basic skills and perform a play. Using a pre-post questionnaire, data were gathered from the treatment group (n=14) who participated in the class and a non-participating comparison...
Little research focuses on the mental health of caregivers (CGs) who stop providing care to their community-dwelling spouse. We examine depressive symptoms of former primary CG spouses who stopped caregiving over a two-year follow-up period when the care recipient (CR): (1) no longer has functional problems; (2) continues having functional problems...
Social and built environments have been shown to influence cognitive functioning in older adults. Yet, few studies have addressed to what extent residence in neighborhoods with a greater density of social and institutional resources explains race/ethnic variations in cognitive decline. We use data from a three-year span of longitudinal assessments...
Many older people want to age in place with one popular model of care being the Village Model. One main concern for this model has been sustainability. We examined factors that contributed to longevity in a current village that began in 1993. Utilizing administrative data over its 25-year history, data from a representative sample of current member...
Few studies focus on the mental health of caregivers who stop providing care to their spouse. We know little about these caregivers. Building on Pearlin’s Stress Process Model, this study addresses depressive symptoms of primary spousal caregivers who stopped providing care at follow-up under three circumstances: (1) the care recipient (CR) continu...
This qualitative study explores the perspectives of aging mothers to understand the ways in which respect is experienced in relationships involving aging mothers and adult daughters with mental illness. Data came from audiotaped personal interviews with a purposive sample of 21 mothers (ages 52–90) of adult daughters with a serious mental illness....
Framed by Pearlin’s Stress Process Model, this study prospectively examined the effects of three primary stress factors reflecting the duration, amount, and type of care (ADL, IADL, both) on the depressive symptoms of spousal caregivers over a two-year period. This study also measured whether the effects of these stressors differ between husbands a...
Objectives:
We examined differences in depressive symptoms among people 65 and older who live alone, exploring whether these differences are associated with both health and environmental contexts.
Method:
Data are from the 2006 wave of Health Retirement Study (N = 2,956, age range: 65-104). We used a two-step cluster analytical approach to ident...
Framed by Pearlin's Stress Process Model, this study prospectively examines the effects of primary stress factors reflecting the duration, amount, and type of care on the depressive symptoms of spousal caregivers over a 2-year period, and whether the effects of stressors differ between husbands and wives. Data are from the 2004 and 2006 waves of th...
Based on the premise that the experience of aging in place is different for vulnerable subgroups of older adults compared with less vulnerable subgroups, we focus on low-income older adults as a vulnerable subgroup and senior housing as an alternative to a conventional, private home environment. Using the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Health Retiremen...
Abstract Using the Andersen-Newman model, we investigated the prevalence of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) limitations in married couples, and couple characteristics associated with ADL help receipt. In this sample of 3,235 couples age 65+ in the 2004 Health and Retirement Study, 74.3%, 22.1% and 3.6% were couples in which neither, one or two pa...
This article discusses, from the grandmother's perspective, the ways in which support is exchanged in families coping with serious mental illness. A strengths perspective was utilized to identify ways in which family members help each other. Employing a qualitative approach, this study focuses on interviews obtained from a sample of 22 grandmothers...
Guided by a conceptual framework highlighting multiple facets of social relationships and social support, this study examined the extent to which aging mothers of adult daughters with a serious mental illness were socially integrated with members of their network. It further examined the relational content of these mothers’ social ties as tangible...
This study investigated whether transitioning into the role of activities of daily living (ADL) spousal caregiver is associated with increased depressive symptoms for older husbands and wives among a sample of coresiding community-dwelling older couples. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we estimated a two-level linear model to exami...
This paper focuses on 30 couples who received a pension and other services from two private trusts in Detroit, Michigan beginning in 1929 or 1930. Results of the qualitative analysis of case files, which contain notes recorded chronologically for 17 of the couples and then surviving spouses, provide a portrait of older couples' lives prior to a par...
This study examines how the Medicare Part D coverage gap impacts non-dually eligible older adults with a mental illness. Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 case managers from community-based agencies serving persons, age 55 and over, with a mental disorder. Five themes illustrating the central difficulties associated with...
Objective:
The social networks of older individuals reflect personal life history and cultural factors. Despite these two sources of variation, four similar network types have been identified in Europe, North America, Japan, and China: namely 'restricted', 'family', 'friend', and 'diverse'. This study identified the social network types of Korean...
Currently there is limited evidence linking age-friendly characteristics to outcomes in elders. Using a representative sample of 1,376 adults aged 60 and older living in Detroit, this study examined the association between age-friendly social and physical environmental characteristics and the expectation to age in place, and the potential differenc...
Accurate conceptualization and measurement of age-friendly community characteristics would help to reduce barriers to documenting the effects on elders of interventions to create such communities. This article contributes to the measurement of age-friendly communities through an exploratory factor analysis of items reflecting an existing US Environ...
Objectives: To examine the factors associated with urban African American elders’ utilization of home and community-based services and explore whether these factors differ by category of service. Methods: Data came from a representative sample of 1,099 African American older adults living in Detroit. Logistic regression models were used to explore...
Background and Purpose: There is growing interest among social work scholars in adapting the social and physical environment to promote elder health, well-being, and aging in place by creating more “age-friendly” neighborhoods (Alley, Liebig, Pynoos, Banerjee, & Choi, 2007; Greenfield, 2012; McDonough & Davitt, 2011; Scharlach, 2009). Examples of e...
This paper focuses on 30 couples who received a pension and other services from two private trusts in Detroit, Michigan beginning in 1929 or 1930. Results of the qualitative analysis of case files, which contain notes recorded chronologically for 17 of the couples and then surviving spouses, provide a portrait of older couples' lives prior to a par...
While a number of organizations and government entities have encouraged the development of more “age-friendly” environments, to date there has been limited research linking these environment features to elder outcomes. Using a representative sample of older adults living in Detroit, this study examined the association between age-friendly environme...
Within the past decade, many organizations have proposed age-friendly models to help communities adapt the social and physical environment to promote elder health and well-being. To date, however, there is little evidence regarding the relationship between these models and outcomes in older adults. Using measures based on the U.S. Environmental Pro...
This study examined the effects of physical health and other psychosocial variables on psychological distress and depression following coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), with a focus on gender differences. Information regarding psychological distress one year following surgery was obtained from a sample of 151 patients (112 males, 39 fema...
Background:
It has been suggested that medical and supportive services must be systematically interwoven to positively affect quality- of life outcomes of older adults. There are neither conclusive findings on the impact of community based long term care on older people's well-being (Gaugler et al, 2005; Bilsen 2008;Shapiro, 2002), nor conclusive...
Background:
Social network typology research on older adults has derived different social network groupings based on the four types including diverse, community, friend, and family, restricted type. Individuals in the diverse type have the most expansive social ties while people in the restricted type have the most limited ties. Family type and f...
Research on families dealing with mental illness has considered either positive or negative aspects of intergenerational family relationships. The current study extends this work by using intergenerational ambivalence theory to examine aging mothers' contradictory expectations toward adult daughters who are mentally ill. This study focuses on inter...
We explored whether gender moderated the influence of other factors on solo spousal caregiving. The subsample (N = 452) from the AHEAD study included elderly care recipients (CRs) receiving IADL assistance and their spouses. Logistic regression modeled the likelihood of solo spousal IADL care. Gender moderation was tested by product terms between C...
As the demographic landscape of the world changes, people are curious about those who live well beyond their life expectancy; those people referred to as the oldest old. Their chronological age has been a fascination to researchers and practitioners. This chapter reports findings in the main areas of function and well-being, sociodemographic factor...
Few Korean studies have explored factors that influence depressive symptoms, a condition that is likely to increase with age. This study examines how worries, psychosocial resources, specifically family support, are related to depressive symptoms among a sample of the oldest old in South Korea. The buffering effects of psychosocial resources previo...
Stress and psychosocial resources play a crucial role in late-life depression. While most studies focus on predominantly those who are young-old, this study used a sample aged 85 and older. The authors' study aims to examine three research questions: (1) What are the trajectories of depression and its associated factors such as types of stress and...
Peoples of East Asia—Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and others-have long-established cultural approaches to showing respect to elders. Demographic and social changes, however, have affected the ability of the young to meet traditional expectations. Family sizes are much smaller than they once were, many young people live a distance from their parents,...
Although respect is a crucial aspect of social work practice, few studies have examined how social workers convey their respect for elderly clients. This study explored the various forms of respect demonstrated by social workers when they were with older clients. Fifty social workers serving elderly clients were surveyed by a questionnaire with clo...
With the emerging population of the oldest-old (those ages 85 and older), it is crucial to understand and prepare for their
psychosocial needs. Worry is linked to psychological well- being and physical health, but little is known about the oldest-old's
everyday worries. The authors explored four research questions: (1) What are the worries of the o...
Factors influencing expansion of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) caregiver networks beyond the spouse/partner were studied, using data from the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) nationally representative sample of American elders (ages 70 and older). Analyses were based on 427 Black and White couples in which one...
Composition of caregiver networks (spouse only vs. others) for assistance with personal care limitations (ADLs) was examined in the AHEAD nationally representative sample of 215 elderly couples, using logistic regression. Findings showed network expansion beyond the spouse was influenced by a poor fit between solo spousal caregivers and caregiving...
A reliable self-esteem trajectory can be obtained by examining the average of within-person changes in self-esteem rather than by simply examining the correlations between age and self-esteem or by comparing means of self-esteem between two different age groups. This study examines the trajectory of self-esteem (SE) and its predictive socio-demogra...
Sources of social support for 24 widowed, “worthy” elderly men who were clients of a privately funded foundation in Detroit, Michigan, beginning in 1929 or 1930 until their deaths are described. Beginning with the application for admission, each man's file documents delivery of services in notes recorded each time he had contact with anyone in the...
Racial/ethnic variations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) caregiver network composition were examined in a nationally representative sample of elders, using task specificity and hierarchical compensatory theoretical perspectives. Logistic regressions tested network differences among White, Black, and Mexican American elders (n = 53...
Little is known about the cross-sectional or longitudinal relationships between body weight and health at older ages. Using multilevel modeling analyses, this study examined the trajectories of body mass index (BMI), chronic health conditions (CHC), and functional disability (FD); factors associated with the trajectories; and the relationships betw...
Recruitment of students into gerontological social work is an increasingly important issue as the population of older adults grows. This article describes one initiative designed to aid in the promotion of geriatric social work: the University of Michigan's Geriatric Fellowship Program. Using qualitative in-depth interviews with 13 MSW Fellows as w...
Issues related to psychological recovery following coronary bypass surgeries (CABG) have emerged in recent years. Other research
has shown the effects of spiritual or religious activities on health and aging. However, little is known about the relationship
of spiritual coping, including religious coping, to post-CABG adjustment. This study addresse...
This research examined the role of self-care behavior of 151 patients (aged 40 to 80) on general psychological distress at one year after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. A tested hypothesis was that self-care practices would be associated with a lower level of distress one year after surgery. The results supported the beneficial effect...
This research investigated gender differences in psychological adjustment among patients (112 males, 39 females) one year after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Information regarding post-CABG depression, non-cardiac chronic conditions, and socioeconomic variables were obtained from a survey. Additional cardiac, surgical, and demographi...
Gays and Lesbians Older and Wiser (GLOW), a support group sponsored by a geriatric medical clinic in the midwest, is described. GLOW has been meeting monthly for 7 years. Scheduling, professional involvement, and special attention to social support seem critical for the group's success. Older gay men and lesbians often have unique support needs tha...
The main determinants of rehospitalization of elderly people were studied with a longitudinal sample of 264 persons older than 60 years at a midwestern, urban, university-affiliated hospital. Path analysis was applied to survey data collected for this study. Seventeen percent of subjects were readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Controlling for...
The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the attenuating effects of physical, psychological, and social resources on
the relationship between stress and mental health among the oldest old. Physical resources include perceived health and independence
in functional and instrumental activities of daily living, while psychological resources includ...
This article draws on data collected from a very old parent and two of her or his adult children in 20 older families to show how different strategies for analyzing data produce different images of families. The findings produced by means of five different analytical techniques are presented and compared. The degree to which each captures the reali...
This study examined the relationship between older people's adjustment to long term care (LTC) placement and their level of mental readiness prior to such placement. It was hypothesized that elderly patients denial of the likelihood of LTC would not affect their later adjustment. Results of a multiple regression analysis showed that the patient's d...
Discharge planning involves making choices about the type and amount of posthospital care a patient will receive within the
reality of resource constraints. Elderly patients discharged from an acute-care hospital vary in their reactions to this decision-making
process and the degree to which they exert final control over the decision. Perceived lac...
Data drawn from the Supplement on Aging (SOA) to the 1984 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were used to identify correlates of older persons' assessments of their capacity to provide self-care. The SOA data set consists of responses, based on personal interviews with 16,148 persons 55 years of age and older. Most assessed their capacity to c...
Aspects of post-hospital care decisions were examined for elderly patients (n = 314) being discharged. Factor analysis identified 6 dimensions of the patients' perceptions of the decision-making: certainty about outcomes, family support for decision-making, restriction of choice, feeling of being rushed, control over the choice, and hypervigilance....
Workers assigned to cases of elder abuse experience significant problems related not only to the nature of the problem but also to their own feelings, biases, and attitudes about violence and the aging. This article examines the problems and suggests strategies for dealing with them.
Social service use and need were assessed for two groups of older persons living in an urban core area being markedly changed
through redevelopment. Pre and post measures of service use and need were compared for those forced to move and a matched
comparison group not forced to move. Through time, the comparison group of non-movers experienced an i...
Reanalysis of data from the Blenkner study of protective services to the elderly indicates that the services were not necessarily harmful. It also helps to identify the future role of evaluation research in regard to protective services. Qualitative as well as quantitative data will be helpful.
This paper provides a view of the creation of social services to meet the needs of the elderly since the turn of the century. The framework herein reveals that the development of the social worker's role in dealing with the elderly remains historically consistent. Differentiations within the profession since 1900 have not affected services to the e...
Because the psychological needs of the elderly aphasic person are so difficult to assess, they usually go unmet. A language therapist and a social worker, working together, can build on each other's skills and facilitate comprehensive treatment for the patient.
The Blenkner research was interpreted to mean that casework had a negative effect on the elderly. Recent analysis of original data shows that these findings were not justified. The research did, however, generate important hypotheses that remain to be tested through a strong alliance between research and practice.
Current advances in discharge planning have focused on comprehensive assessment, levels of care, and reducing the length of hospital stays. However, evidence also indicates the importance of involving patients and their families in making decisions about long-term care. This article identifies nine factors related to the patients' involvement in de...
Post hospital care decision making is an issue for a vast number of elder persons and yet has received little attention from social work professionals. This paper reviews literature regarding attitudes of professionals, family members and patients themselves toward decision making in a hospital context. Furthermore, an exploratory study involving 4...