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Biomedical subjects

A B Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to A B Edwards.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Employed family caregivers of cognitively impaired elderly: an examination of role strain and depressive symptoms.

This paper compares employed and non-employed caregivers of cognitively impaired elderly family members. Using two competing positions derived from role theory, role conflict and role expansion, we explored whether holding the positions of both caregiver and worker led to greater role overload and psychological role conflict, or provided an outlet that helps caregivers better manage the demands placed on them. We found no differences between employed and non-employed caregivers on measures of role overload, worry and strain, and depression. For working caregivers, however, greater conflict on the job was associated with higher role overload and worry and strain while beneficial work experiences were only weakly associated with lower role overload and worry and strain. There was an interaction effect between positive work experiences and role overload when predicting depressive symptoms. These results provide some support for role conflict, but also suggest that caregivers may vary considerably in how they adapt to multiple roles.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Prejudice, social distance, and familiarity with mental illness.

In this study, the paths between two prejudicial attitudes (authoritarianism and benevolence) and a proxy measure of behavioral discrimination (social distance) were examined in a sample drawn from the general public. Moreover, the effects of two person variables (familiarity with mental illness and ethnicity) on prejudice were examined in the path analysis. One hundred fifty-one research participants completed measures of prejudice toward, social distance from, and familiarity with mental illness. Goodness-of-fit indexes from path analyses supported our hypotheses. Social distance is influenced by both kinds of prejudice: authoritarianism (the belief that persons with mental illness cannot care for themselves, so a paternalistic health system must do so) and benevolence (the belief that persons with mental illness are innocent and childlike). These forms of prejudice, in turn, are influenced by the believers' familiarity with mental illness and their ethnicity. We also discuss how these findings might contribute to a fuller understanding of mental illness stigma.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Predictors of institutionalization of cognitively impaired elders: family help and the timing of placement.

Although predictors of nursing home placement have attracted a good deal of attention in gerontological research, the type and amount of family assistance offered to caregivers prior to institutionalization has not been extensively examined. This study analyzed the impact of family help on the timing of placement among cognitively impaired care recipients. Using longitudinal data from the Adult Day Care Collaborative Study, an event-history analysis was performed to determine the effects of family help after sociodemographic characteristics, caregiving stressors, and indicators of caregiver well-being were taken into account. Results showed that caregivers were far less likely to institutionalize their relatives when family members provided overnight help and assisted with activities of daily living care. These findings suggest that specific types of family help play an important role in delaying nursing home placement among older adults suffering from dementia.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

U.S. health manpower policy: will the benefits justify the costs?

The United States is now training and importing new physicians at a rate that will increase the ratio of physicians-to-population by nearly 50 percent over the next 25 years. Similar increases in the supply of other health manpower will also result from current enrollment levels. The added costs associated with these increased health-manpower-to-population ratios will equivalent to diverting another 4 percent of more of GNP--roughly $50 billion annually in today's frame of reference--from other purposes into health care. But only marginal, if any, improvements in the overall health of the American people are likely to result. Therefore, current policies need to be reexamined and serious consideration given to reducing the rates at which the health manpower pool is increasing.

Adolescent↗