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Symposium

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Beyond Burden: Linking Caregiving Experiences With Self-Perceptions of Aging and Health Behaviors

Thursday, November 14, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST
Location: Room 603
CE: 1.5

    Chair(s)

  • Emily Mroz, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Assistant Professor
    School of Nursing
    Emory University
    Decatur, Georgia, United States

    • Co-Chair(s)

  • ST

    Shelbie Turner, PhD, MPH

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
    Weill Cornell Medicine
    New York City, New York, United States

    • Discussant(s)

  • Becca Levy, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Professor of Epidemiology and Psychology
    Social and Behavioral Sciences
    Yale University School of Public Health
    New Haven, Connecticut, United States

    • Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

  • ST

    Shelbie Turner, PhD, MPH

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
    Weill Cornell Medicine
    New York City, New York, United States

  • Rachel Bloom, MS (she/they)

    Doctoral Candidate, Applied Developmental Psychology
    Psychology
    Fordham University
    New York City, New York, United States

    Slides

  • Yifan Lou, PhD, LMSW (she/her/hers)

    Assistant Professor
    Department of Internal Medicine - Geriatrics
    Virginia Commonwealth University
    New Haven, Virginia, United States

  • Rita Hu, PhD, MSW (she/her/hers)

    Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow
    School of Social Work, Department of Psychology
    University of Chicago
    Chicago, Illinois, United States

Family caregivers to older adults with chronic, progressive illnesses are intimate witnesses to complex diagnoses, symptoms, and medical decisions and the pathways for aging well amidst these challenges. Yet, little research examines whether or how navigating caregiving experiences influence caregivers’ beliefs about their own health, aging, and end-of-life in ways that inform their behaviors (e.g., preparation for their own age-related changes). Aligned with GSA 2024’s theme, this symposium examines caregiving experiences as potential “fortitude factors” that can guide positive aging attitudes and health behaviors. First, Rita Hu will introduce profiles of caregiving trajectories across the adult life course and describe associations between these profiles and caregivers’ self-perceptions of aging. Rachel Bloom will then present a qualitative study of former dementia-caregivers’ observations about the advantages and limitations of medical advocacy and end-of-life care services. She will describe how these observations can be steered by caregivers’ personal narratives from their lived caregiving experiences. Yifan Lou will then build on this by describing quantitative associations between dementia- and non-dementia-caregiving experiences and caregivers’ engagement in advance care planning, describing differences in ACP behaviors across racial and ethnic subgroups. In addition, a fourth presentation will spotlight Roberta Cruz, a family caregiver and member of the National Alzheimer’s Project ACT Advisory Council and IMPACT Collaboratory Lived Experience panel, who will share her perspectives on this emerging topic. Our discussant, Becca Levy, will integrate our presentations with the broader landscapes of research on self-perceptions of aging and caregiver wellbeing, concluding with recommendations for future research.

Learning Objectives:

  • summarize what is known about whether and how caregiving contributes to caregivers’ aging self-perceptions and health/ health planning behaviors.
  • recognize emerging gaps in research on caregivers’ views on aging and health planning and identify opportunities to develop new interventions to support caregivers who struggle with persistent negative aging self-perceptions or planning avoidance.
  • describe the value of, and pathways for, involving people with lived experience in the development of research agendas within this topic. They will be able to articulate strategies for amplifying the voices of people with lived experience across the research process.

Presentations:

  • 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST
    Journeying Beyond Care: A Caregiver's Perspectives on Aging and Health Planning

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Shelbie Turner, PhD, MPH – Weill Cornell Medicine

  • 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST
    Linking Dementia Caregiving Experiences With Expectations of Future Health Care Navigation

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Rachel F. Bloom, MS (she/they) – Fordham University

  • 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST
    Are Caregivers More Likely to Engage in Advance Care Planning? Examination by Race and Ethnicity

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Yifan Lou, PhD, LMSW (she/her/hers) – Virginia Commonwealth University

  • 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST
    Individual Caregiving History Trajectories' Impact on Later-Life Self-Perceptions of Aging

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Rita X. Hu, PhD, MSW (she/her/hers) – University of Chicago