Relationship of events and affect in the daily life of an elderly population.

Abstract

The relationship between positive and negative events and emotional well-being for depressed and nondepressed residents of a nursing home and congregate housing care facility was examined. For 30 consecutive working days, each of 79 participants was presented with the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Positive and Negative Affect rating scales. Events during the previous 24 hr were elicited by an open-ended format. Results indicated that variations in daily events (e.g., health, family, self-initiated, and social events) were related to residents' affect, and there was congruence between mood and event valence when the effects of psychopathology and residence were removed. Thus, regardless of diagnosis or residential setting, people's moods showed a relationship to the quality of daily events. Findings also indicated that ratings of residents' affect could be translated into audits for institutional quality.

Effects of Dronabinol on anorexia and disturbed behavior in patients with Alzheimer's disease

“…It is possible that the positive aect items represent more a degree of patient's engagement than patient's mood (Lawton et al, 1995).…”

Within-person variability in state anxiety across adulthood: Magnitude and associations with between-person characteristics

“…State anxiety refers to a transitory emotional condition of feeling tense, nervous, and worried as well as reporting symptoms of increased physiological arousal at a particular moment in time (Wetherell, Reynolds, Gatz, & Pedersen, 2002). Conceptually, state anxiety can be expected to vary in intensity and fluctuate over time (Cattell & Nesselroade, 1976) primarily because it represents a systematic response to a given situation or to events in everyday life (Lawton, deVoe, & Parmelee, 1995; see also Mroczek & Almeida, 2004; Shoda, Mischel, & Wright, 1994), but maybe also because of random variation around a more or less stable level (for discussion, see Nesselroade, 1988). Given this transitory nature of states, and in line with seminal personality theories stressing the variability of behavior and feelings over time (Mischel & Shoda, 1995; Spielberger et al, 1983; Wessman & Ricks, 1966), states are usually studied in terms of both level and short-term fluctuations.…”

AD-venture program: Therapeutic biking for the treatment of depression in long-term care residents with dementia

“…9 A 1995 descriptive study examined the occurrence of pleasant events in 79 nursing home and community-dwelling elders and correlated them with depression levels without finding significant results. 10 The most encouraging finding was that activity participation showed a positive direction toward the hypotheses, a reduction in depression. In 1998, Okun and Keith interviewed 849 older adults and found a significant correlation effect between positive social exchanges and depressive symptoms.…”