Angela L. Curl

Factors affecting willingness of social work students to accept jobs in aging

The aging of the United States population is creating an increased need for social workers and other helping professionals with training in gerontology. Recent estimates indicate that less than 3% of MSW students are enrolled in an aging concentration, as compared to 19.0% enrolled in children/youth concentrations. This study (N=126) examines factors that affect the willingness of social work students to accept jobs in aging. Results of a hierarchical logistic regression indicate that age and personal/professional experiences with older people (but not gender, race, or educational level) significantly predicted willingness to accept jobs in aging.

Older Adults’ Spiritual Needs in Health Care Settings A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Recognizing that spiritual needs often emerge in health care settings, the Joint Commission requires spiritual assessments in numerous organizations frequented by older adults. Given that many gerontological practitioners have received little training in identifying spiritual needs, a qualitative meta-synthesis (N = 9 studies) was conducted to identify and describe older adults’ perceptions of their spiritual needs in health care settings. Five interrelated categories emerged: (a) spiritual practices; (b) relationship with God; (c) hope, meaning, and purpose; (d) interpersonal connection; and (e) professional staff interactions. The implications of the findings are discussed as they inform the spiritual assessment process.

Productive and Social Engagement Following Driving Cessation A Couple-Based Analysis

Drawing on interdependence theory, this study examined the cross-spouse impact of driving cessation on productive (work, formal volunteering, and informal volunteering) and social engagement of older couples aged 65+ using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998–2010; N = 1,457 couples). Multilevel modeling results indicate that driving cessation reduced husbands’ productive and social engagement, and wives’ productive engagement. Spousal driving cessation reduced husbands’ likelihood of working or formal volunteering, and wives’ likelihood of working or informal volunteering. The more time since spousal driving cessation, the less likely husbands were to work and the less likely wives were to formally volunteer. Results suggest the need for greater recognition of the impact of driving cessation on couples, rather than just individuals, as well as the need for enhanced services or rehabilitation efforts to maintain driving even among couples with one remaining driver.

Dog Walking, the Human–Animal Bond and Older Adults’ Physical Health

Purpose of the Study This study explored the associations between dog ownership and pet bonding with walking behavior and health outcomes in older adults. Design and Methods We used data from the 12th wave (2012) of the Health and Retirement Study which included an experimental human-animal interaction module. Ordinary least squares regression and binary logistic regression models controlling for demographic variables were used to answer the research questions. Results Dog walking was associated with lower body mass index, fewer activities of daily living limitations, fewer doctor visits, and more frequent moderate and vigorous exercise. People with higher degrees of pet bonding were more likely to walk their dog and to spend more time walking their dog each time, but they reported walking a shorter distance with their dog than those with weaker pet bonds. Dog ownership was not associated with better physical health or health behaviors. Implications This study provides evidence for the association between dog walking and physical health using a large, nationally representative sample. The relationship with ones dog may be a positive influence on physical activity for older adults.

Retirement transitions among married couples

SUMMARY Retirement is often viewed as an event when someone completely withdraws from paid employment. The purpose of the present study was to examine the patterns of retirement transitions evidenced in married couples in the Health and Retirement Study over an 8-year period (1992 to 2000). The sample consisted of White and Black married couples (N = 1,118) where both spouses were working and at least one spouse was aged 51 to 61 at baseline. A variety of complex retirement patterns were found. Husbands were more likely than wives to show a linear pattern (i.e., a transition directly from work to complete retirement). Transitions were related within couples. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

Anticipatory socialization for retirement: A multilevel dyadic model

Role theory, widely used to examine human behavior, has often been used to describe the transition from work to retirement. Anticipatory socialization, a role theory concept, describes the process that occurs prior to role transitions and assists in that transition by helping individuals learn the norms for the new role. However, not all workers engage in retirement planning. Lack of retirement planning is of concern because those individuals who do not plan for major life transitions tend to be less successful in adjusting to role changes. Data from the Health and Retirement Study were used; selection criteria required participants to be age 45 or older, working full- or part-time, and have complete data for the study variables. Multilevel modeling results of dyadic data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 1,028 dual-earner couples) indicate that older age, being White, higher income, greater retirement wealth, and looking forward to retirement predicted greater anticipatory socialization (i.e., thinking about and discussing retirement) by both husbands and wives. For wives only, having a health problem limiting work, higher spouse occupational status, and having a spouse who was looking forward to retirement predicted more anticipatory socialization. For husbands only, higher education, higher depressive symptomatology, and lower occupational status predicted more anticipatory socialization. This study found evidence of spousal congruence, with husbands, on average, engaging in more anticipatory socialization than wives. These findings identify couples that could most benefit from targeted efforts to increase anticipatory socialization, which predicts better retirement adjustment and satisfaction.

Older Adults’ Spiritual Needs in Health Care Settings

Recognizing that spiritual needs often emerge in health care settings, the Joint Commission requires spiritual assessments in numerous organizations frequented by older adults. Given that many gerontological practitioners have received little training in identifying spiritual needs, a qualitative meta-synthesis (N = 9 studies) was conducted to identify and describe older adults’ perceptions of their spiritual needs in health care settings. Five interrelated categories emerged: (a) spiritual practices; (b) relationship with God; (c) hope, meaning, and purpose; (d) interpersonal connection; and (e) professional staff interactions. The implications of the findings are discussed as they inform the spiritual assessment process.

A longitudinal study of website accessibility: Have social work education websites become more accessible?

This study (N = 45 schools) sought to determine the accessibility of baccalaureate social work program websites in 2003 and 2008 using Priority 1 checkpoints from the World Wide Web Consortium 1.0 guidelines. Paired t-test results indicate that the mean accessibility scores of five of the nine items (plus the website accessibility scale as a whole) was statistically higher after five years. However, 75.6% of programs still had one or more Priority 1 accessibility barriers in 2008 and thus did not meet the lowest W3C accessibility guidelines. This highlights the need for more education about barriers to accessibility and methods for making websites more accessible.

Trends in Engagement in Advance Care Planning Behaviors and the Role of Socioeconomic Status.

We investigated the trends in advance care planning (ACP) between 2002 and 2010 and whether socioeconomic status explained such trends. We conducted a pooled regression analysis of Health and Retirement Study data from 6052 proxies of deceased individuals. We studied 3 ACP behaviors, discussing end-of-life (EOL) care preferences, providing written EOL care instructions, and appointing a durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC). ACP increased by 12% to 23% every 2 years from 2002 to 2010. Higher household income increased the odds of having a DPAHC. Education was not associated with ACP. Socioeconomic status alone appears to play a very limited role in predicting ACP. Engagement in ACP likely depends on a constellation of many social and contextual factors.

A Multilevel Dyadic Study of the Impact of Retirement on Self-Rated Health: Does Retirement Predict Worse Health in Married Couples?

Objectives: This study examined the effects of retirement on self-rated health for married couples, using interdependence and social stratification theoretical frameworks. Method: Dyadic multilevel modeling of data (N = 2,213 non-Hispanic couples) from 1992 to 2010 of the Health and Retirement Survey. Results: Retirement was associated with worse self-ratings of health (SRH) short term (ST) for both husbands and wives during the first couple of years of retirement. In addition, the longer the husbands (but not wives) were retired, the worse was their SRH. Cross-spouse effects varied by gender: When wives retired, their husbands’ SRH improved ST, but when husbands retired their wives’ SRH improved long term. Spouse education moderated the relationship between years since spouse’s retirement and SRH for wives. Discussion: Practitioners can use this information to help married couples through retirement planning and transitions. Results suggest that models of retirement in couples should pay greater attention to gender and other social stratification factors, spousal interdependence, and length of time since retirement.