This proposal is in response to PAR-02-049 NIA Pilot Research Grant Program. It addresses Research Objective #20 (Racial/Ethnic Disparities), but also #24 (Improved Measures and Methodologies) and #12 (Cognition in Context). R03 funding is sought to validate a measure of Preparation for Future Care 0PFC) in a sample of older African-Americans and to validate a brief measure of PFC. Background: PFC is defined as thoughts or actions aimed at optimizing the care received in late adulthood. Thoughts and actions might include identifying sources of aid and arranging coverage of long-term care. PFC is important because it may buffer the adverse effects of chronic, progressive illnesses and functional limitations. The most widely used measure to assess PFC, the """"""""Preparation for Future Care Needs"""""""" instrument (PFCN), has not been validated for use with minority participants, and its discriminant validity has not been established with regard to cognitive measures and measures of attitudes and emotions about the future. Also, the 47-item measure is too lengthy to use in some research and clinical contexts. Method: Data will be collected from 200 African-American and 200 White older adults in the Rochester area. Participants will be asked to complete a 47-item PFC survey and a 21 item short form within 4 weeks of each other. They will also complete measures of everyday cognition (e.g., how to locate a phone number in the yellow pages), basic cognitive functioning (e.g., memory, tracking, inductive reasoning, comprehension), and emotional/attitudinal measures (e.g., planfulness, death anxiety, dementia anxiety). Covariates will include socio-economic variables, health care access, health status, and limitations in activities of daily living. The development of a valid short measure of PFC is fundamental to conducting future large-scale longitudinal studies of adaptation to increased illness and disability, in which only brief measures are feasible. The information gained will also contribute to the development of a screening tool for practitioners assisting older adults with care plans.
| Sörensen, Silvia; Chapman, Benjamin P; Duberstein, Paul R et al. (2017) Assessing future care preparation in late life: Two short measures. Psychol Assess 29:1480-1495 |
| Sörensen, Silvia; Hirsch, Jameson K; Lyness, Jeffrey M (2014) Optimism and Planning for Future Care Needs among Older Adults. GeroPsych (Bern) 27:5-22 |
