Functions of Personal Memory
Well-being in the Second Half of Life
Self Continuity
Life Story Books: Reaching out to People with Dementia
Nostalgia and Childhood Play
Empathy in Student Nurses
Death and Dying
Dignity Therapy
Memories for the Dying Days
Leaving a Legacy
Wisdom and Late Life Spousal Loss
Well-being in the Second Half of Life
This study examines whether looking back in autobiographical time and one’s place in chronological time affect current well-being. Participants (N = 470) in the second half of life (age 50 – 90 years) completed a life story matrix, rating positive life events for perceived control, and influence on who they have become. They also reported negative and positive well-being. Findings show that recalling one’s self in the reminiscence bump years, not non-bump years, is related to well-being. While perceived control links to greater life satisfaction, viewing bump events as highly influential on the current self relates to lower self-esteem. Chronological age is associated with lower well-being but only very late in life. Findings are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory and lifespan developmental theory.
Self Continuity Project
Older and younger individuals face difficult events in their lives that can challenge their identity (e.g., loss of a loved one, illness, job loss) thereby negatively affect their psychological well-being. What psychological processes aid people in the face of such events? The current study examines how older and younger adults use personal memory of the events of their life (i.e., autobiographical memory) to maintain a continuous sense of self in the face of difficult events. Specifically, autobiographical reasoning (i.e., self-event and event-event connections) presented in narratives of challenging life events and one’s phase in life (i.e., age) are proposed to be key in predicting the experience of self-continuity. It is expected that autobiographical reasoning plays a mediating role linking the relation between age and experiential self-continuity in two adult age groups (N = 130; emerging adults, 18-27 years; older adults, 60-75 years).
Dignity Therapy
Maintaining dignity at the end of life can be challenging for cancer patients. Dignity Therapy (DT) is an intervention that guides a patient through a structured life review process, resulting in a written Legacy Document that can be shared with the patient’s family members and friends. Though research has demonstrated that patients and families feel they benefit from DT, there has been a call for research to understand mechanisms that produce positive patient outcomes. The current NCI-funded study involves a cross-college collaboration aimed at addressing this issue in a sample of 204 older palliative care cancer outpatients. We will examine the empathic process involved in DT delivery and the extent of important psychosocial themes (purpose in life, meaning-making, and communion) in life story narratives produced by participants of DT. In terms of increasing the quality of care at end-of-life, this study will lead to a better understanding of when DT is most efficacious. It will guide honing of the intervention to improve patient care, with the goal of achieving meaningful psychosocial benefits for end-of-life cancer patients and their families.
Memories for the Dying Days
Given the aging of the Baby Boomers, nearly twenty million American older adults will die over the next 10 years. Most will leave behind a widowed spouse (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014). Death of a loved one, particularly a spouse, is rated as one of life’s most stressful normative events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). Research on spousal loss has mainly focused on grief symptomology or maladjustment immediately following loss, neglecting examination of the potential for positive outcomes that may emerge over time. One component of the end of a loved one’s life that may greatly impact grief trajectories and long-term outcomes is the setting in which the loved one died (for example, at home, or in a hospital). The quality of the spouse’s dying days, including the quality of the environment in which they die, is crucially important for the dying person and those who live on (Heyland et al., 2006). This project investigates the relation of place of death for older adults to their spouses’ memories from the dying days and subsequent grief and outcome trajectories. The goal is to establish underlying rationales for the importance of place of death in end-of-life care models, and to determine which environment is most likely to foster positive memories from the dying days that can lead to lasting positive outcomes for those who are now widowed.
Leaving a Legacy
Reflecting on mortality may trigger concerns about leaving a legacy (Newton & Jones, 2015). Legacy often involves agency, a motive towards successful achievements for which one will be remembered (McAdams, et al., 1996). The present study focuses on whether communion (i.e., care and concern for others) is also important (McAdams, 2001). The threat of dying affects how legacies are framed (Hunter, 2007): we suggest that feeling one’s life is being “cut short” may promote greater communion. That is, legacies may be more likely to focus on love and caring for those one will leave behind. An individual-level construct, expected years of life lost (EYLL), was created to capture premature death. The study will examine: (1) the extent of communion themes in legacies, and (2) whether greater EYLL predicts greater communion. Older adults with cancer (N=120) narrated their legacy (Dignity Therapy; Chochinov, 2005) which was reliably content-analyzed for Communion. Preliminary analyses show Love/Friendship was the most common communion theme and individuals with more expected years to lose narrate greater communion in their legacies.
Life Story Books: Reaching out to People with Dementia
Providing care for people suffering from dementia is a critical public health issue in many parts of the world, particularly in countries with rapidly aging populations such as Florida. An unavoidable consequence of dementia is the loss of personal memories. Dementia has even been referred to as “the little death” because the loss of memory eventually results in a loss of self. After all, our personal memories constitute a crucial part of who we are. In recent years, reminiscence activities, in which people are guided to recall memories from their lives, have become increasingly popular but, so far, results have been mixed. In this study, we will develop and evaluate a new, innovative, type of reminiscence activity that addresses previous shortcomings. We will create digital life story books based on crucial memory principles to help people with dementia remember their lives. We intend to show that this adjusted reminiscence activity will stimulate people’s memories and thereby preserve a sense of self over time compared to more traditional reminiscence activities and care as usual.
Nostalgia and Childhood Play
This is a collaborative project with colleagues at CON AMORE, Denmark. Project Leader: Dr. Alejandra Zaragoza Scherman. Nostalgia is a social emotion sometimes experienced when remembering one’s past. It can induce behavioral change and motivate future behavior (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2020). We are examining the effect of adults who have children recalling their own childhood and adulthood memories of play, with shopping memories as a comparison condition. Participants rate nostalgia of each memory, and complete measures of play attitudes, intent to purchase toys and games, and intent to engage their children and other adults in play (pre- and post-recall).
Empathy in Student Nurses
A substantial body of research supports what many nurses know from experience: empathy is at the heart of providing quality care. The major objective of this study is to identify mechanisms through which higher empathy translates into greater intentions to treat patients with chronic pain. Using an ecologically valid scenario methodology, student nurses (N = 156) reviewed the narrative of a patient in chronic pain. They completed standard, valid measures of empathy toward the patient, perception of the patient’s pain, and intention to provide pain-relieving treatment. Nursing students’ personality traits were assessed and perceptions of patients’ age and gender were experimentally manipulated. Analyses show empathy was associated with a higher intention to treat the patient in chronic pain irrespective of the patient’s age or gender. A moderated-mediation analysis confirmed that nursing students with higher empathy perceived the patient in the scenario as being in greater pain. This was correspondingly associated with a higher intention to provide treatment. Nursing students’ trait of Extraversion was a moderator. Empathy not only improves rapport between patients and providers but is related to intentions to provide pain-relieving treatment. Findings are discussed in terms of the clinical and educational importance of empathy in patient-provider relationships.
Wisdom and Late Life Spousal Loss
Death of one’s spouse is normative but one of life’s most challenging events (Carr et al., 2001). Wisdom involves compassion, tolerance for uncertainty, and reflection, so may be particularly useful in dealing with spousal loss. Past research has related personal wisdom to well-being and life satisfaction in general (Ardelt, 2019). Almost no research, however, has examined wisdom as a resource in the context of bereavement. We (1) expected that higher wisdom would predict better grief adaptation in widowed older adults and, (2) explored whether wisdom effects might be moderated by older adults’ physical status. Participants (N = 54, Mage = 81; SD = 7.57, 62.3% female) completed the Brief Wisdom Screening Scale (Glück et al., 2013) and two assessments of grief adaptation: Inventory of Complicated Grief (Prigerson et al., 1995) and Integration of Stressful Life Experiences (Holland et al., 2011). Hierarchical regression, F(2, 51) = 4.25, p <.05, showed greater wisdom, β = -.27, t(52) = -2.061, p < .05 and higher physical functioning (β = -.27) both predict lower symptoms of complicated grief, with no moderation. A second regression, F(2,51) = 4.44, p < .055, showed a similar trend with greater wisdom associated with better integration of loss, β = .46, t(52) = 1.96, p = .055. Though preliminary, these findings suggest wisdom may serve as a resource for individuals facing loss in later life. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical models (Glück & Bluck, 2013) identifying reciprocal relations between wisdom development and life challenges.