No abstract

No abstract

The present study examined longitudinal change in everyday task competence in a sample of 102 community-dwelling older adults from central Pennsylvania. Subjects were assessed on cognitive abilities, intellectual control beliefs, and everyday task competence in 1979 and 1986. The results indicated significant mean level decline on everyday task competence. However, wide individual differences were apparent in the timing and rate of decline; 62% of the sample remained stable or improved in competence over this seven-year period. Structural equation analyses were conducted to examine lagged relationships among the ability, intellectual control, and everyday task competence constructs. Fluid reasoning ability was a significant longitudinal predictor of subsequent everyday task competence. Everyday task competence was a significant longitudinal predictor of subsequent self-efficacy beliefs regarding intellectual aging. The results suggest that mean level decline in everyday task competence may not represent the intraindividual developmental trajectory of many subjects. Prior level of fluid ability influences subsequent everyday task competence, and prior level of everyday task competence influences levels of self-efficacy beliefs.Although an increasing number of studies (Poon, Rubin, and Wilson 1989;Sinnott 1989) have examined the elderly's functioning on tasks of daily living, there has been virtually no longitudinal research examining age-related changes in competence and limited research on the antecedents of everyday cognition. Research on everyday cognition is of importance from both basic and applied perspectives. With regard to theories of cognitive aging, the study of the relationship between basic units of cognition (e.g., mental abilities) and complex forms of behavior (e.g., everyday activities) is of interest. From an applied perspective, the ability of the old to perform activities considered important for independent living becomes of increasing concern as the age structure of the society shifts upward. This study addresses three major questions:1. What pattern(s) of age-related change on tasks of daily living are exhibited by older adults? What proportion of older adults show reliable change in everyday task

Research in the United States indicates that stressful life events may create psychological distress among older adults by eroding their sense of personal control and by diminishing their feelings of self-worth. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to replicate these findings with data provided by a recent nationwide survey of elderly people in the United States (N = 1,523) and (b) to compare these findings with results obtained from a nationwide survey of older adults in Japan (N = 1,517). The findings from both surveys are quite similar. The data indicate that financial strain tends to erode feelings of control and self-worth in both cultures, and the weakening of these personal resources in turn tends to increase depressive symptoms.

This study examined the hypothesis that psychometric tests retain equivalent factor structures across samples widely differing in age. We estimated a best-fitting measurement model for 17 psychometric tests covering the 5 primary abilities of Inductive Reasoning, Spatial Orientation, Verbal Ability, Numerical Ability, and Perceptual Speed, using a sample of 1,621 participants (ages 22 to 95) from the 5th wave of the Seattle Longitudinal Study. We disaggregated the participants into 9 subsets (M ages = 29, 39, 46, 53, 60, 67, 74, 81, and 90) and tested the fit of the accepted model for each subset. We confirmed configural invariance for all subsets, but could not establish either complete or incomplete metric invariance for any set. These results confirm the stability of factor patterns across age but indicate serious limitations for valid cross-age comparisons of individual markers of psychometric abilities in age-comparative studies.

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has accelerated the growth of telemedicine services across the United States. In this study, we examined cancer rehabilitation patient and physician satisfaction with telemedicine visits. We also sought to evaluate the types of provider services that are given during telemedicine visits. Objective To assess overall patient and provider satisfaction with telemedicine visits and explore whether satisfaction varied by contact method (phone or video) and encounter type (new problem, worsening problem, stable/improving problem). Design Prospective survey study. Setting Cancer rehabilitation program at an academic medical center. Participants Three cancer rehabilitation providers and 155 unique patients participated in the study. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Provider and patient satisfaction measured by customized surveys. Results One hundred eighty‐four encounters with 169 unique patients were scheduled. Of these, 14 were new visits and 170 were follow‐up visits. Eighteen encounters (9.8%) were either no shows or rescheduled, making for 166 encounters with 155 unique patients. Patient and provider responses comprised the following: 94.8% of patient responses reported “quite a bit” or “very much” for the telemedicine visit being a good experience; 63.1% of patient responses reported “quite a bit” or “very much” for interest in using telemedicine visits in the future; and 83.9% of provider responses reported “quite a bit” or “very much” for the patient's main problem being addressed by the visit. Providers were more likely to prefer an in‐person visit for a new or worsening problem versus a stable/improving problem. The most common services provided were medication prescription/titration and education/counseling. The least common services provided were making of new diagnoses, ordering interventional procedures, and making referrals. Conclusion Telemedicine visits were well received by both patients and providers in a cancer rehabilitation medicine clinic setting. However, in the case of a new or worsening problem, satisfaction declined. These data support that telemedicine visits should be considered essential as part of comprehensive cancer rehabilitation care, especially during a public health crisis.

This study seeks to replicate and extend research on the stress process by examining the relationships among stress, social support, physical exercise, and depressive symptoms with data provided by a recent nationwide survey of older adults in Japan. The findings reveal that more frequent physical exercise is associated with less psychological distress. Moreover, the data suggest that some (but not all) types of stressors tend to diminish the frequency of physical activity. Finally, and perhaps most important, the results reveal that social support tends to promote more frequent exercise. This can occur in two ways. First, more emotional support was related to better exercise habits. In addition, negative interaction was also associated with more frequent exercise, suggesting that informal social sanctions can foster positive health behaviors.

The aim of this research is to examine the impact of stress on supportive social relationships in later life. Although a number of researchers propose that exposure to life stress increases the amount of assistance provided by significant others, findings from studies with older adults are equivocal. Three potential explanations for these contradictory findings are examined. The results, which are based on a nationwide survey of older people, reveal that the relationship between stress and social support is contingent upon the nature of the stressor as well as the source of support. It was further predicted that negative interaction would play an important role in this process, but consistent findings failed to emerge from the data. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.