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| Friday, 14 January 2005: 2:00 PM-3:45 PM | |||
| Orchid C (Hyatt Regency Miami) | |||
| Faith Matters, Social Support, and Coping in Late Life | |||
| Organizer: | Holly Nelson-Becker, The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare | ||
| Does Religiosity Impact the Appraisal and Coping Processes of Alzheimer's Disease Caregivers Carmen Morano, PhD | |||
| Reclaiming Power in Formerly Abusive Relationships: Ethical Decision-Making for Women as Caregivers Terry L. Koenig, PhD, Wendy A. Lutz, Elaine S. Rinfrette | |||
| Meeting Life Challenge: A Comparison of Religous, Social, and Personal Coping styles in African American and Jewish American Older Adults Holly Nelson-Becker | |||
| Positive Attitude Mediates Prayer Coping and Postoperative Mental Health in Adult and Older Cardiac Patients Amy Ai, PhD | |||
| Format: | Symposium | ||
| Abstract Text: Studies of people in adverse, stressful situations often identify religion and spirituality as important coping resources (Ellison, 1994). Koenig, McCollough, & Larsen (2001) reviewed 1600 studies that examined associations between religion and many aspects of health and mental health behaviors, finding that religious involvement played an important role in helping people cope with stressful life conditions. However, the multidimensional aspects of religion and spirituality and their effects on physical and mental health outcomes, especially in older adult populations, are only at an early stage of investigation. The papers in this symposium will discuss several important aspects of religious and spiritual coping with older adults. The first paper addresses whether a caregiver’s sense of religiosity affected caregiver appraisal of burden, satisfaction, or use of problem-focused or emotion-focused coping in a sample of 347 caregivers. Religiosity had a direct effect on appraisal of satisfaction and use of emotion-focused coping but had no effect on burden or active problem-solving. The second paper addresses ethical dilemmas faced by formerly abused female caregivers of frail elders. Spirituality and assertiveness were components of the coping process and a four-stage model is proposed that includes reclaiming power through widening social supports. The third paper considers the role of religion in coping with difficult life situations in an ethnically diverse sample of 79 older adults. While African-American respondents reported use of religion as a primary coping mechanism, social support second, and personal coping a last option, Jewish American respondents identified personal coping as their primary option. The fourth paper examines how hope and optimism mediated private prayer for coping in a sample of 310 post-cardiac surgery patients. Findings suggested that patients of lower SES were more likely to use prayer and middle-aged and older patients who used prayer showed less post-operative distress. Using a variety of methods, these papers explicate diverse effects of religious and spiritual beliefs and behavior on late life coping. | |||
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