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The extent to which people choose their professions and professions choose their practitioners is not always clear; it is in all likelihood a "simpatico" process. But, growing attention to the study of careers can help elucidate the nexus of personal and professional forces that underpins this complex dynamic. This line of inquiry can also advance knowledge of how it is that individual scholars come to shape the essential features and directions of a profession at a particular point in its history. I use oral life history methods to develop an account of Eileen Gambrill's emergence as an "influential" in the course of American social work. I begin with a brief overview of the context of the project. I then describe the range of narrative methods which I drew on to craft an account of her personal and professional development vis-à-vis the profession's "zeitgeist" at the time. I begin the account itself by defining an influential to establish her status in the field. I then turn to the alchemy of dispositional and situational conditions which, beginning in early life and extending throughout her formal education, furthered her development in this role. I close with a few examples of the significant outcomes of her influence as an integrative scholar who focused her career on bettering the lives of others through evidence-informed, expertly delivered, ethically responsible social work practice.

This article describes a Delphi study to identify research priorities of gerontological social work practitioners and to compare these priorities with those of social work academic researchers. A national expert panel of 52 gerontological social work practitioners completed questionnaires to delimit a set of high-priority research topics. Findings were compared with a similar Delphi study conducted with academic social work researchers. The researcher panel and the practitioner panel endorsed a need for intervention research. Practitioners also identified several unique priorities, including income security and long-term care policies, decision making, and planning for later life. The authors suggest four substantive areas (housing and transitions in living arrangements, family caregiving, health and mental health, and workforce) and four crosscutting themes (intervention research, social policy, service delivery, and capacity building) as a potential organizing framework for a research agenda for gerontological social work.

Older adults who experience natural disasters are at risk for immediate and longer-term negative health outcomes and diminished quality of life (QOL), in part due to disruptions to social relationships and protections. We use a risk and resilience framework to examine the protective effects of psychological sense of community (PSOC) on self-rated health (SRH) and QOL for older adults in Puerto Rico 2 years after the devastation of Hurricane María in 2017. Between September 2019 and January 2020, we conducted face-to-face interviews with a nonprobability sample of 154 community-dwelling adults aged 60+ in Puerto Rico. Controlling for covariates, we used multivariate regression to examine the association of PSOC and key social risk factors (mental health, social isolation, and loneliness) with SRH and QOL. Higher levels of PSOC were significantly associated with better SRH and QOL. Regarding risks, worse mental health was significantly associated with lower QOL and SRH, loneliness was significantly related to worse QOL, and social isolation was significantly associated with better SRH and better QOL. PSOC was a protective factor for older adults, suggesting that prevention and intervention efforts should focus on building and sustaining older adults' sense of community in the longer-term wake of natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: An increasingly important task for all disciplines involved in aging research is to identify and prioritize areas for investigation. This article reports the results of a national Delphi study on setting research priorities for gerontological social work. Design and Methods: Delphi methodology, a structured process for eliciting and correlating informed opinions from a panel of experts on a specific topic, was used. A national expert panel of 46 gerontological social workers completed three successive Web-based questionnaires with controlled feedback to delimit a set of high-priority research topics. Results: There were 49 independent research topics identified, 16 of which attained high or highest priority and high or moderate consensus ratings. The top-priority topic was developing and testing psychosocial interventions across specific populations and conditions. Three additional topics on intervention research achieved similar ratings, as did all four topics on services research. Implications: The research priorities identified by expert panelists in this study represent critical knowledge needs for the social work profession in aging, and they overlap and complement the current research agendas of the National Research Council and the National Institute on Aging. They are thus expected to help guide the development and prioritization of social work and interdisciplinary research to improve practice and policies affecting older adults and their families.

Describes the growing population of grandparents raising grandchildren and the environmental contexts of these families. Provides a rationale and teaching strategies for including content on custodial grandparents in courses preparing students for gerontology and geriatrics fields. (Contains 38 references.) (SK)

Describes informal support systems of 42 Latina grandmothers raising children in New York City. Nearly half lived only with grandchildren, 14% had no help, and only 58% of those with help felt it would continue. Barriers to information, referrals, and additional services are discussed, as are implications for practice and policy. Contains 40 references. (Author/TD)

Background: Despite the centrality of family in Indian society, relatively little is known about family‐based communication concerning sexual behaviour and HIV/AIDS in rural Indian families. To date, very few family‐based adolescent HIV‐prevention interventions have been developed for rural Indian youth. This study conducted formative research with youth aged 14 to18 years and their parents in order to assess the feasibility of conducting a family‐based HIV‐prevention intervention for rural Indian adolescents. Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted (n = 46) with mothers, fathers, adolescent females and adolescent males (two focus groups were held for each of the four groups). All focus groups consisted of same‐gender participants. Adolescents aged 14 to18 years old and their parents were recruited from a tribal community in rural Maharashtra, India. Focus group transcripts were content analyzed to identify themes related to family perceptions about HIV/AIDS and participation in a family‐based intervention to reduce adolescent vulnerability to HIV infection. Results: Six primary thematic areas were identified: (1) family knowledge about HIV/AIDS; (2) family perceptions about adolescent vulnerability to HIV infection; (3) feasibility of a family‐based programme to prevent adolescent HIV infection; (4) barriers to participation; (5) recruitment and retention strategies; and (6) preferred content for an adolescent HIV prevention intervention. Conclusion: Despite suggestions that family‐based approaches to preventing adolescent HIV infection may be culturally inappropriate, our results suggest that a family‐based intervention to prevent adolescent HIV infection is feasible if it: (1) provides families with comprehensive HIV prevention strategies and knowledge; (2) addresses barriers to participation; (3) is adolescent friendly, flexible and convenient; and (4) is developmentally and culturally appropriate for rural Indian families., Background Preventing the transmission of HIV in India remains a significant goal for global public health. In 2007, an estimated 2.4 million Indians were living with HIV [1]. Among the [...]

The Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) is a well‐validated measure of psychological sense of community (PSOC), but it has yet to be tested with Spanish‐speaking older adults. The current study uses data from face‐to‐face interviews with a non‐probability sample of 154 community‐dwelling older adults in Puerto Rico. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test three competing factor structures. We also tested internal consistency reliability and convergent validity. CFA results show the second‐order four‐factor model was the best fit (χ2(16) = 20.78, p = 0.187; CFI = 0.997, TLI = 0.995, SRMR = 0.026, RMSEA = 0.044, 90% CI [<0.001, 0.092]). The BSCS showed good reliability (α = 0.85) and was correlated in the expected direction with social network size (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) and loneliness (r = −0.27, p < 0.001). These findings indicate that the BSCS comprises the four domains (membership, needs fulfillment, emotional connection, and influence) from the original PSOC theory. These results inform theory development and can aid program planning, policy, and practice with older adults in Puerto Rico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk and burdens of cardiovascular diseases rise in late life and shift from men to women at age 65. This study uses baseline data from the National Survey of Self-Care and Aging to assess the association of self-care and functional status of older men and women with coronary heart disease (CHD). We first compare men and women with and without CHD, then base subsequent analyses on 597 persons with CHD. Three types of self-care (behavior changes, environmental adaptations, medical equipment use) were examined, and functional status was measured as difficulty with basic, mobility, and instrumental ADLs. Regardless of gender, persons with CHD had more functional impairment and used more self-care than those without the disease. Women were more impaired and engaged in more self-care than men. Equipment use was associated with higher functioning for men and women. Behavioral changes were significant only for men, as were advanced age, non-white ethnicity, more depressive symptoms, and low physical activity for women. Education, intervention, and supportive care for older adults with CHD should consider the role of specific types of self-care in disease management and prevention of decline as well as gender differences in use of various self-care strategies. KEYWORDS. Elderly, heart disease, self-care, functional impairment

This article assesses the current state of gerontological social work research and suggests future directions for the field. We review data that suggest social workers are contributing to the multidisciplinary knowledge base in aging, although their contributions to this literature are incommensurate with their involvement in interdisciplinary practice. Social workers are not adequately represented among researchers supported by public and private funds. We offer some strategies to augment initiatives already in place to increase the production of gerontological social work research. KEYWORDS. Social work research, gerontological research, social work profession, social work research agenda

Background and Objectives Cities and counties worldwide have adopted the concept of "age-friendly communities." These communities aspire to promote older adults' well-being by providing a safe, affordable built environment and a social environment that encourages their participation. A major limitation in this field is the lack of valid and reliable measures that capture the complex dimensionality and dynamic nature of the aging–environment interface. Research Design and Methods This study uses data from the AARP 2016 Age-Friendly Community Surveys (N = 3,652 adults aged 65 and older). The survey includes 62 indicators of age-friendliness, for example, outdoor spaces, transportation, housing, social participation, and community and health services. We randomly split the sample into 2 equal subsamples for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results CFA results indicated that both the 5-factor model and the second-order factor model adequately fit the data. In the SEM 5-factor model, outdoor space (β = 0.134; p =.017), social participation (β = 0.307; p <.001), and community and health services (β = −0.149; p =.008) were associated with self-rated health, the outcome of interest. The path coefficients of housing and transportation were not significant. In the second-order factor model, people who lived in more age-friendly communities reported better self-rated health (β = 0.295; p <.001). Discussion and Implications Our findings show that the Age-Friendly Community Survey measures demonstrate reliability and concurrent validity. To promote older adults' well-being, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers should focus on improving their built and social environments. They can use these measures for short- and long-term planning, monitoring, and evaluating age-friendly community initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults are closely connected to their neighborhoods and they spend more time there than younger adults. Because their mobility is often impeded by diminished health and functioning, access to neighborhood health and social services is essential for their well-being. This article examines whether geographic proximity to these types of neighborhood resources is associated with depression among older adults in South Korea. Data are from A Profile of Older Adults: 2015 which sampled 1,455 community-dwelling individuals ages 60 and older in South Korea. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression, the outcome. We measured geographic proximity to neighborhood destinations, which included the time it takes the respondent to go to the grocery store, hospital, government office, senior center, social service center, and bus stop. We conducted latent profile analyses (LPA) with a distal outcome using the BCH method to determine whether geographic proximity to neighborhood resources is associated with depression. The LPA identified three distinct subgroups of geographic proximity to neighborhood resources: High Access (10%), Moderate Access (41%), and Low Access (49%). Low Access (b = 3.71, p <.001) and Moderate Access (b = 3.00, p <.001) groups had higher levels of depression compared to those in the High Access group. Our findings suggest that access to essential services in one's neighborhood is associated with lower levels of depression, which supports existing evidence that age-friendly community initiatives are important to older adults' psychological well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses a national probability sample to construct a profile of women in their late 60s, 70s, and 80s who are living alone and to compare correlates of psychological well-being for each age group. Measures include: (1) sociodemographics; (2) health and functioning; (3) social and psychological stressors; and (4) informal and formal supports. Results show that, overall, older women have high levels of psychological well-being. Health problems were common correlates for all three age groups, but other within-group predictors varied. Living alone was inversely related to well-being only for women in their 70s.

This study examined the effects of life stressors and psychosocial resources on self-reported depressive symptoms for frail elderly living alone in the 1982-84 National Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration (N = 2,081). Significant predictors of depressive symptoms were being white, less education, more ADL impairment, more physical illness and poorer perceived health, more perceived unmet needs, less sense of control, and more informal helpers and the interaction of social participation and loss of a significant other. Implications for research on the relation of these factors among the frail elderly are addressed.