Aging,Depression, and Wisdom: A Pilot Study of Life-Review Intervention and PTSD Treatment With Two Groups of Vietnam Veterans

Vietnam War veterans are a sometimes overlooked subgroup of the aging baby boomer generation. Forty years after the war ended, war veterans still seek out VA or Vet Center counselors to assist with traumatic stress symptoms. However, there currently are no specific age-related protocols for treating older war veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nor have established PTSD interventions incorporated gerontology content for these older trauma survivors. This pilot study juxtaposed life review within regular PTSD group counseling for 12 Vietnam veterans at a community-based Vet Center using a partial crossover design. The Life Review and Experiencing Form (LREF) structured the delivery of the life review component. T-tests and repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine depression and self-assessed wisdom outcomes using measures previously tested with older adults. Findings suggest that life review prior to PTSD group therapy has clinical benefits for reducing symptoms of depression and increasing self-assessed wisdom. The study illuminates the possible relationship of traumatic stress symptom effects on the natural reminiscing process for older veterans and provides insights into methods for more age-appropriate treatment for trauma survivors participating in Vet Center and VA programs nationwide.     

Depression in Older Adults: A Meta-Synthesis

Depression in older adults is often overlooked and dismissed as a part of aging. A body of knowledge—both quantitative and qualitative—has developed on the topic of depression in older adults. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews have been used to synthesize the quantitative findings of studies, and our research seeks to synthesize the qualitative studies that have been conducted on elders' experience with depression. Thirteen studies met inclusion criteria, and 4 major themes were extracted: experiences, causes, recovery, and barriers to treatment. These themes are detailed and their implications for practice are explored.     

Development of a carpal tunnel syndrome screening method using structured interviews and vibrotactile testing

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a debilitating and expensive health problem. An inexpensive screening method that would differentiate between people who do not have CTS and those that may have CTS would be useful. The screening methodology investigated here had two phases: a structured interview and provocative vibrotactile testing (VT). The control group (n = 36) was composed of asymptomatic college students and faculty, the case group was composed of patients currently visiting an occupational medicine clinic for symptoms consistent with CTS. The case group was subdivided into positive and negative for nerve conduction latency, NCL+ (n = 21) and NCL- (n = 13), respectively. Using a scored, structured interview, 33 of the controls and none of the symptomatic cases were identified as non-CTS. The results from the provocative flexion VT indicated that if the difference between the age corrected baseline and the threshold at 15 minutes is 15 microm or more, the subject was likely to be NCL+ (odds ratio 12.6, 95% CI 3.8 to 41.8). Further research may improve this screening methodology to not only determine whether or not a person has CTS, but also to determine the level of median nerve impingement or damage.     

Hand force of men and women over 65 years of age as measured by maximum pinch and grip force

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of age and gender on 4 measures of grip and pinch force of well elderly community dwellers and to provide normative values. The hypotheses were that age and gender affect pinch and grip force and that these 2 factors might interact. Hand strength of 224 seniors 65-92 years old was tested. Grip and pinch force decreased in successively older age groups past 65 years. Men's grip force exceeded that of women in all age groups. Men's hand-force decline was steeper than that of women over successive age groups, suggesting that gender differences in force decreased with age. Trends were the same for all 4 types of grip- and pinch-force measurement but were most clearly visible in grip and key-pinch force. Norms were provided for seniors age 65-85+ years in 5-yr increments.     

A Service Provider's Elicitation of Its Customers’ Demand Distributions by a Price Mechanism

In a service environment a service provider needs to determine the amount and kinds of capacity to meet customers’ needs over many periods. To make good decisions, she needs to know the probability distribution of her customers’ demand in each period. We study a situation in which customers’ demand for a given service is random in each period, but inelastic, or modeled well by this assumption, and cannot be delayed to the next period. This article presents a mechanism that allows a service provider to learn the distribution of a customer's demand by offering him a set of contracts through which he can partially prepay for future service for a reduced cost for units of service based on anticipated needs. We describe the form of a set of contracts that will cause the customer to reveal his demand distribution as he minimizes his expected costs. To justify the effort of organizing and offering contracts, we present an application that demonstrates the cost savings to the service provider with better capacity planning using the truthfully elicited distribution.     

The moderating effect of threat on the relationship between population concern and environmental concern

Two hundred sixty-one research participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure concern for the environment and concern for population growth. The introduction to the questionnaire focused on either threat to society, personal threat, or no threat. Contrary to some previous research findings, a positive correlation between concern for the environment and concern for population growth was found. This finding is explained by the simultaneity of measurement of the two constructs, item phrasing, and the possibility that previous research findings lacked transhistorical reliability. The threat manipulation was found to moderate the relationship between concern for the environment and concern for population growth. Analyses of demographic variables showed that women expressed more environmental concern that men, and that regular church attendees expressed the least concern for population growth.     

Staging language: An introduction to the sociolinguistics of performance

Staged performance involves the overt, scheduled identification and elevation of one or more people to perform, with a clearly demarcated distinction between them and the audience. It involves the agentive use of language, building on the foundation of existing social meanings. Staged performances tend to be linguistically stylized, pushing the limits of language creativity. They have the potential to trigger significant sociolinguistic effects, circulating novel forms and contributing to language change. The paradigms used in this theme issue for approaching language performance include Bakhtin's notion of Stylization, Bell's Audience and Referee Design, Silverstein's Indexicality, Agha's Enregisterment, and Bauman's construct of Discursive Culture. Themes that run through the articles include: a concept of identity that is part product, part process; the centrality of the audience; the reflexivity of staged performance; and the importance of non‐linguistic modalities such as music and appearance. The language analysis in this collection of papers concentrates mainly on phonological features of varieties of English, finding instances of selectivity, mis‐realization, overshoot and undershoot in their performances of a range of targeted dialects.     

Making Black Lives Matter in academia: A Black feminist call for collective action against anti‐blackness in the academy

In this article, as have many Black women scholars in the past, we again call for collective action against anti‐blackness and White supremacy in the academy. Drawing from black feminist theory, we discuss the long history of Black women academics' activism against anti‐black racism and introduce the current movement: Black Lives Matter (BLM). Although BLM is often construed as resisting anti‐black violence outside the academy, it is also relevant for within the academy wherein anti‐blackness is likely to be manifested as disdain, disregard, and disgust for Black faculty and students. We discuss some of the ways in which anti‐blackness and liberal White supremacy are manifested in the lives of Black faculty and students, and propose that non‐Black allies have key roles to play in resisting them. Like second‐hand cigarette smoke that harms everyone in proximity, anti‐blackness and White supremacy harm us all, and a shared movement is needed to dismantle them.