Lyn M. Holley

A Platform for Nursing Research on Spirituality and Religiosity Definitions and Measures

Spirituality or religiousness is important across the health trajectory, from promoting health and preventing disease, to coping with illness and end of life. Research on the relationship of religiousness or spirituality to health spans more than one discipline and applies many definitions and measures. The purpose of this multidisciplinary work is to facilitate research by nurses who seek to investigate the relationship between health and religiousness or spirituality, and provide evidence-based guidance for nursing practice. Senior researchers summarize the history of inquiry on this topic, discuss particular and persistent challenges posed by definitions of religion and spirituality, describe selected measures that have enjoyed wide application, and make recommendations for consideration by nurse researchers. Use of existing knowledge to select variables, definitions, and measures, and to link research questions and findings to the larger body of current inquiry, will advance nursing practice closer to fulfilling Nightingale’s ideals for effective care.

A Glimpse of Life at 67: The Modified Future-Self Worksheet

ABSTRACT Imagining what one will be like as an older adult can be a difficult task at mid life, let alone during young adulthood. Yet, pondering senescence has positive benefits for young adults with respect to their future physical, financial and social well being. This article describes an exercise used with more than 300 introductory-level gerontology students to encourage them to visualize what life will be like at 67. Student and instructor evaluations support the usefulness of this exercise in going beyond the textbook in discussing the challenges and benefits of aging.

Encouraging Responsible Aging through Pedagogy: The Future Self Exercise

Introductory gerontology courses have the potential to enhance student appreciation of aging issues. The effectiveness of such courses for informing views about individual aging is little studied. This study, using a quasi-experimental design, examines the impact of participation in an introductory course in aging on 158 undergraduate students in a Midwestern state. The course used an instructional device, the Future Self Exercise, to help students acknowledge and plan for their own future aging. A pre- and postcomparison of student self-ratings and descriptions supports the efficacy of introductory courses using this instructional approach for educating student views about their own aging.

Demonstrating the Value of Gerontology in Troubled Times: Taking the Future Self Exercise From the Classroom to the Community

Gerontologists at state-funded universities are being challenged to demonstrate the value of their programs amid looming budget cuts. This article, third in a series reporting research and development of the Future Self exercise, suggests that the latest iteration of the exercise is an effective way to demonstrate the value of a gerontology program to community members. The article describes adaptation of the classroom exercise, and results of evaluation of presentations of the adapted exercise to 15 community and professional groups in Nebraska and Kansas during the past two years. Implications for future research and practice are identified.

Begin with the End in Mind: A three-part workshop series to facilitate end-of-life discussions with members of the community

ABSTRACT Death is among the most avoided topics of conversation. Although end-of-life planning may greatly benefit individuals and their survivors, research and practice indicate that family, friends, and even health care providers resist discussing end-of-life plans. Consequences of not planning ahead have created a public health issue. This article describes a community-level intervention that facilitates those necessary conversations among elders who have at least begun to talk with others about their wishes. A free, three-part educational workshop series on end-of-life planning titled “Begin with the End in Mind” was developed at a midwestern university. A survey was distributed to all attendees to learn about their beliefs regarding end-of-life planning. Inductive content analysis was used to understand participants’ thoughts about discussing end-of-life planning. Findings from 33 participants suggest a concern about making plans and ensuring others would follow their wishes. In conclusion, this article offers a roadmap for gerontologists and others to use in engaging the community to think about and act on end-of-life public health issues.

Response to Yablonsky’s Letter to the Editor

We would like to thank the author of this letter, who raises some interesting points. We are pleased that this letter and our response provide an opportunity to give more detail about the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale. The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale is not named in our article (Cohen, Holley, Wengel, & Katzman, 2012). We did include a discussion (pp. 806-807) of the development of the “NIA/Fetzer Short Form for the Measurement of Religiousness and Spirituality” as described by Idler et al. (2003, p. 356). The NIA/Fetzer Short Form scale, developed by a working group formed by the Fetzer Institute and the National Institute on Aging (NIA, 2003), included 12 domains (Idler et al., 2003, p. 356) and was used in the General Social Survey (GSS) in 1998. Development of the NIA/Fetzer scale was motivated by limitations in the measurement of the different dimensions of the complex construct of religiousness in studies of the protective effects of religion on health. It was designed to be a brief self-report survey instrument to measure religiousness and spirituality in a religiously heterogeneous population of adults. The group decided that the dimensions of religiousness and spirituality needed to be examined separately. Part of the careful development of the NIA/Fetzer scale included comparison with four other scales, one of which was the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES). Despite its careful development, the NIA/Fetzer scale has not been widely used. The DSES was intended to emphasize nontraditional, noninstitutionalized spiritual feelings, in contrast with more

A Review of: “HEALTH SECURITY FOR ALL: DREAMS OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA By Alan Derickson”

Boston College that predicted that the percent of retirement income devoted to health care will more than double from 16% in 2000 to a crushing 35% in 2030 (p. xiii). The book takes an in-depth and comprehensive approach to exploring the methods of financing medical and long-term care costs in retirement. Recognizing that insurance (both private and governmental) continues to play the most important role in covering medical expenses, the book devotes chapters 2 through 9 to a thorough analysis of the many aspects of medical insurance, including pre-Medicare coverage through employment-related or individual policies, supplemental and ancillary coverage, underwriting issues, and governmental insurance programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits. This section also devotes a chapter to the growing trends in so-called ‘‘consumer-directed health insurance,’’ which include high deductible health plans, health savings accounts (HSAs,) health reimbursement arrangements, and Archer medical savings accounts. In this current edition, several chapters, including the one concerning consumer-directed plans, and those covering Medicare and Medicaid, were substantially rewritten and expanded from the 2005 first edition. This was done in order to reflect the increasingly important role of HSAs, the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program, and the Medicaid changes in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Chapters 10 through 18 are devoted to a thorough examination of long-term care, including a description of the growing need, types of caregivers and care settings, and methods of financing. Unlike health insurance, which covers a large percentage of medical expenses, private long-term care insurance is in its infancy, and personal assets must cover a much greater percentage of long-term care costs. The authors cite a 2004 Congressional Budget Office study noting that although Medicare and Medicaid together financed over half of both institutional and home-based long term care costs in the year 2000, personal out-of-pocket expenditures were still a hefty

Review of Bridging the global digital divide by James J., Edward Elgar, 2003

43 billion, or 35% of the total. Private long-term care insurance is expected to grow and account for 17% of such costs by the year 2020, up from a negligible amount in 2000 (p. 251). From the reader looking for guidance on specific questions of health or long-term care financing for seniors, to those seeking a comprehensive understanding of the subject’s current state and future trends, this volume is both a handy reference and a thorough teaching tool.

Public Administration at the Movies

No Abstract