Elisabeth O. Burgess

SOUTHERN (DIS)COMFORT: SEXUAL PREJUDICE AND CONTACT WITH GAY MEN AND LESBIANS IN THE SOUTH

Recent surveys have found antigay attitudes and behavior to be commonplace. In this article, we use contact theory to explain these prejudicial attitudes. We contribute to the literature on contact and prejudice by expanding contact to include not only whether the heterosexual knows any gay men or lesbians, but also how many, for how long, and in what ways. To these, we add a new and unique measure of contact: a persons contact with the gay community. The data are from a survey of 956 undergraduate students at a large urban university in the southeastern United States. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses find that contact with gay men and lesbians significantly reduces prejudice toward them; although, only as contact with gay friends or the gay community. Contact has stronger effects on womens prejudice than mens prejudice; however, the attitudes of African Americans toward lesbians and gay men are unaffected by gay contact. The results suggest that contact intervenes between prejudice and sex, race, religiosity, and gender attitudes.

“Your Body Is God’s Temple” The Spiritualization of Health Beliefs in Multigenerational African American Families

This qualitative study of 17 coresident, three-generation African American families provides a generational- and family-level comparison of religion and health beliefs. Four themes emerged from the generational analysis: divine healing, divine healing through doctors, divine healing through health or religious behavior modification, and acceptance of health outcomes. Three categories of religion and health beliefs—coping, behavior-focused, and multidimensional—emerged from the family-level analysis. A grounded theory analysis of the emergent themes suggests that the families affirm God’s sovereignty over their health by spiritualizing, rather than medicalizing, their health beliefs. The families also function as a health maintenance system, transmitting faith-based health beliefs and modeling health behaviors across generations. The findings have implications for the further study of the family context of religion and health among African Americans and the need for a faith-based, family-oriented approach to health disparities interventions.

The Religious Dimensions of the Grandparent Role in Three-Generation African American Households

ABSTRACT Although the importance of religion in family relations is well documented, the role of grandparents in family religious life has received less attention (Ellison & Moulton, 2003). Among African American families, many studies articulate the importance of family elders in the transmission of religious values (Rosenthal, 1985; Taylor, Jackson, & Chatters, 1997; Weddle-West, 2000). However, few studies delineate the ways African American grandparents transmit their religious values to younger family members. A description of the religious role of grandparents in African American households can inform our understanding of the religious values transmission process among ethnic families. This qualitative study describes the religious dimensions of the grandparent role in a sample of 17 co-resident intergenerational African American families. Findings show that African American grandparents provide religious instruction and guidance, model religious behavior, engage in intercessory prayer, and promote the religious significance of family relationships. The findings suggest that religion is an important variable in grandparent role satisfaction and that a family-level analysis of religiosity among African American elders provides a fuller understanding of religion and aging than individual-level descriptors of religiousness alone.

HIV/AIDS Prejudice in the American Deep South

The “Deep South” has become the epicenter of the American HIV/AIDS epidemic in the twenty-first century. It is vital that we understand what contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Deep South, and while many factors contribute, prejudice against persons living with HIV/AIDs is an important component. Analyzing a convenience sample of 955 students at a large university in Atlanta, Georgia, we find that more traditional attitudes toward gender roles and more negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians are associated with greater HIV/AIDS prejudice. We also find that greater HIV/AIDS prejudice reduces participation in various sexual acts and increases ages at initial sexual experiences, while reducing HIV testing. The article concludes with recommendations for HIV/AIDS prevention and education campaigns in the Deep South.

“That Is So Common Everyday . . . Everywhere You Go” Sexual Harassment of Workers in Assisted Living

In assisted living (AL) facilities, workers are intimately involved in the lives of residents. Existing research on AL demonstrates the imbalance of this environment, which is a personal home for the residents and a workplace for staff. Using observational and interview data collected from six AL facilities, this grounded theory project analyzes how AL staff define, understand, and negotiate sexual comments, joking, and physical touch. We developed a conceptual model to describe how such harassment was perceived, experienced by AL workers, and how they responded. Sexualized behavior or harassment was experienced by workers of every status. We found that words and actions were contextualized based on resident and worker characteristics and the behavior. Staff members refused to engage residents, redirected them, or reframed the words and gestures to get the job done. Reporting the incidents was less common. We conclude by discussing implications for policy and research.

Exposing the Backstage: Critical Reflections on a Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Residents’ Care Networks in Assisted Living:

In this article, we analyze the research experiences associated with a longitudinal qualitative study of residents’ care networks in assisted living. Using data from researcher meetings, field notes, and memos, we critically examine our design and decision making and accompanying methodological implications. We focus on one complete wave of data collection involving 28 residents and 114 care network members in four diverse settings followed for 2 years. We identify study features that make our research innovative, but that also represent significant challenges. They include the focus and topic; settings and participants; scope and design complexity; nature, modes, frequency, and duration of data collection; and analytic approach. Each feature has methodological implications, including benefits and challenges pertaining to recruitment, retention, data collection, quality, and management, research team work, researcher roles, ethics, and dissemination. Our analysis demonstrates the value of our approach and of reflecting on and sharing methodological processes for cumulative knowledge building.

Complexity of care: Stressors and strengths among low-income mother-daughter dyads

ABSTRACT Research on informal care for older adults tends to consider middle- and upper-class individuals. Consequently, less is known about caregiving among low-income families. We present findings from an exploratory qualitative study of low-income African American mothers (n = 5) and their caregiving daughters (n = 5). Guided by a feminist framework, we consider how individual, familial, and societal factors contribute to the intersectional complexities of caregiving. Despite the unavailability of formal resources, we found the 10 women positive in their outlook. Furthermore, this study contributes to a growing body of research that identifies both negative and positive aspects of caregiving among an underrepresented population.

Negotiating the Lack of Intimacy in Assisted Living: Resident Desires, Barriers, and Strategies

Despite continuity in the desire for sex and partnership, many older adults experience a lack of intimacy in late life. The use of assisted living is a complicating factor for understanding issues of partnership, sex, and intimacy for older adults. Using in-depth interviews with 23 assisted living residents and grounded theory methods, we examined how residents negotiate a lack of intimacy in assisted living. The process of negotiation entailed three factors: desire, barriers, and strategies. Although some residents continued to desire intimacy, there was a marked absence of dating or intimacy in our study sites. Findings highlight unique barriers to acting on desire and the strategies residents used as aligning actions between desire and barriers. This research expands previous studies of sexuality and older adults by examining the complex ways in which they balanced desire and barriers through the use of strategies within the assisted living environment.

Teaching Dementia Care to Physical Therapy Doctoral Students: A Multimodal Experiential Learning Approach.

ABSTRACT As the population aged 65 and older grows, it becomes imperative for health care providers to expand their knowledge regarding geriatric conditions and concerns. Dementia is a devastating degenerative disease process that is affecting millions of individuals in the United States, with significant economic and emotional burden on family and caregivers. The need for further dementia education in physical therapy school is essential to improve attitudes and treatment that affect patient outcomes and quality of care. This physical therapy program implemented a 12-hour multimodal experiential learning module designed to educate their students on the challenges associated with dementia to increase knowledge and confidence when treating these patients. The results of this study showed statistically significant improvements in overall confidence and knowledge of treating patients with dementia. The study finds the addition of experiential learning to traditional didactic coursework improves students’ reported confidence in working with patients with dementia and understanding the challenges associated with treating patients with dementia.

Sexual Disclosure among College Students in the American Deep South: Toward a "Sexuality as Structure" Approach

We investigate sexual disclosure among college students in the American Deep South. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual students were more likely to disclose their sexuality to friends than family. Sexual disclosure was reduced for younger students, international students, and students with more anti-gay prejudices, who live in less populous areas, and who were raised in the South. The results indicate sex and race privileges; men disclosed their sexuality more than women, and Whites disclosed more than Blacks. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of recognizing the diversity of GLB experiences and the utility of the “sexuality as structure” perspective.