Myra Sabir

Predictors of successful relationships in a peer support program for Alzheimer's caregivers

This study explores the role of similarity in the success of peer support relationships in an intervention program for dementia caregivers. Hypothesized predictors of successful matches included structural similarity between partners (e.g., in age, education), appraisal similarity (e.g., in satisfaction with support for caregiving), and psychological similarity (e.g., in psychological wellbeing). Contrary to expectations, no relationship between these types of similarity and the success of the match were found, but effects were found for dissimilar pairs on several characteristics. The findings suggest: 1) that what really makes a difference for successful peer support is sharing the stressful but also rewarding experience of caregiving; and 2) that program planners do not need to develop extensive matching criteria.

A Community-Based Participatory Critique of Social Isolation Intervention Research for Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

This article examines the dialogue that occurred within the structure of a Research-to-Practice Consensus Workshop that critiqued academic research priorities regarding social isolation among community-dwelling older adults and identified practice-based suggestions for a social isolation research agenda. The investigators adapted the scientific consensus workshop model to include expert practitioners and researchers in a discussion of the current state and future directions of social isolation intervention research. The groups critique resulted in several key recommendations for future research including the need for a social isolation measure with specific capacity to identify isolated older adults during a community crisis. This study demonstrates that the Research-to-Practice Consensus Workshop model can be used successfully to identify priority areas for research that have implications for community practice, construct an evidence base more relevant for community application, strengthen existing community—researcher partnerships, and build agency and practitioner capacity to take part in community-based participatory research.

Attachment-focused integrative reminiscence with older African Americans: a randomized controlled intervention study

Objectives: Prior integrative reminiscence interventions have had a limited focus on attachment themes. The attachment-focused integrative reminiscence (AFIR) intervention differs from these in its central emphasis on attachment themes. The wide range of health benefits resulting from integrative reminiscence may be due in part to reminiscing about, mourning, and integrating unresolved attachment experiences. Method: Participants were randomized into treatment and wait-list control conditions, completed a pre-test, met for eight consecutive weekly two-hour sessions of largely attachment-focused reminiscence, then completed post-tests immediately following the intervention and again six months later. Results: Results show treatment effects for depression (p = .01 and .05 at eight weeks and six months), perceived stress (p = .01 and .04), and emergency room (ER) visits at six months (p = .04), with the intervention group showing lower depression and stress and fewer ER visits. Conclusion: Integrative reminiscence interventions are cost effective, have rapid impact, and carry a certain appeal to older adults. Augmenting such interventions with a focus on attachment experiences may reduce perceived stress, an important health risk factor. Wider application of AFIRs may further reduce health disparities among US older adults.

The Family Sanctum: The Promise of Love’s Continuing Enlargement Across the Lifespan

Humanistic psychology acknowledges that spirituality is woven into the very fabric of human existence; however, this article furthers the position that the human striving for love and connection is the very definition of human spirituality. By suggesting that the original human intention to connect re-emerges in each subsequent developmental stage, merely reconfiguring to fit the requirements of current developmental tasks, it argues that the early family is an important arbiter of human spirituality across the lifespan. Finally, this article posits that the experience and expression of spirituality in older age reflects either an unbroken link to the original affectionate connection to (biological or surrogate) family members, or the intentional vitalization of weakly formed early family ties.