Session: Improving Health & Health Equity Among Middle Aged-and Older Adults By Targeting Modifiable Socio-Contextual Factors (Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference)

This symposium brings together research from student, early-stage, and mid-career members of the SSWR Health Equity & Families special interest group (SIG). This symposium examines sociocontextual factors that influence the health of middle-aged and older adults and implications for health (in)equity. The presentations underscore the importance of understanding the resources and constraints of the social context when seeking to improve health outcomes. The first paper investigates whether neighborhood social cohesion helps to explain associations between residential instability and harsh parenting behavior. Findings from the mediation analysis demonstrate the importance of addressing how unstable housing situations can negatively impact parents’ sense of connection and support within their community, important resources for maintaining positive parental behaviors. The second paper examines the interplay between sociodemographic factors, childhood adversity, and experiences of discrimination in middle- and late-adulthood. The results indicate a complex interaction, pointing toward race and family income level as important moderators that influence the strength of the relationship between adversity in early life and experience of discrimination in later years. The third paper explores trajectories of cognitive decline among Black American adults, a population at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and whether social isolation from friends and family predicted individual trajectories. The analysis identifies distinct cognitive decline trajectories and poorer outcomes among individuals isolated from friends, underscoring the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity within social networks. The fourth paper explores facilitators and barriers to the management of fall risk among older adults with dementia. Interviews with family and friend care partners identified several modifiable factors that can be targeted in interventions with older adults and care partners to reduce fall risk and improve their access to supportive services. Taken together, these papers will highlight opportunities to improve health and wellbeing by addressing modifiable social and contextual factors across the life course. Finding will be discussed with attention to improving health equity and implications for advancing social work research and practice to better meet the needs of historically underserved and vulnerable populations.