The objective of the proposed study is to systematically examine the relationship between arthritic disability and the psychological and physical health among older African Americans. Compared to elderly Caucasians, older African Americans are disproportionately diagnosed with more chronic diseases, are more likely to be diagnosed earlier in life, and are more incapacitated from the disease. Considering the increase in chronic illnesses, it is important to examine the concomitant relationship between the physical and mental health constructs among older African Americans. In understanding this relationship, several research questions have been proposed: 1) Is there an association between demographic factors (e.g. age, gender, and SES) and perceptions of disease severity, pain, and functional impairment due to arthritis among older African Americans?; 2) Do arthritic adults report more depressive and somatic symptoms compared to non arthritic adults?; and 3) Does location and type of arthritic disorder influence reports of depressive and somatic symptoms? Five specific aims are planned to examine these research questions: 1) To collect data from 150 African Americans 50 years of age and older; 2) To examine the intercorrelations between demographic factors, depressive symptoms, functional impairment, and pain and disease severity; 3) To assess the direction of the relationship between demographic factors and physical and psychological health; 4) To examine the type of arthritic disability and location; and the relationship between disease severity, pain perception, functional impairment, and depressive symptoms; and 5) To assess the amount of individual variance associated in disease severity, pain perception and depressive symptoms. This research addresses the importance of acknowledging that different life experiences, health, and comorbidity experienced by minority elderly may create sources of individual variation in their experience of arthritic disability.
| Baker, Tamara A; Whitfield, Keith E (2015) Intrarace group variability in characteristics of self-reported pain and sleep difficulty in older African Americans with arthritis. J Transcult Nurs 26:171-7 |
| Baker, Tamara A; Whitfield, Keith E (2006) Physical functioning in older blacks: an exploratory study identifying psychosocial and clinical predictors. J Natl Med Assoc 98:1114-20 |
| Baker, Tamara A (2005) Chronic pain in older Black Americans: the influence of health and psychosocial factors. Ethn Dis 15:179-86 |
| Baker, Tamara A (2003) Arthritis symptoms as indicators of pain in older African Americans. Ethn Dis 13:513-20 |
