Using an age-friendly university lens to explore community member engagement during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 global pandemic forced institutions of higher education to adapt quickly to virtual connection platforms to maintain ties with their learners. After transitioning to virtual programming, the number of participants in our lifelong learning program more than quadrupled. As a member of the Age-Friendly University (AFU) global network, we saw this as an opportunity to continue expanding our age-inclusivity efforts and capitalized on this engagement by inviting attendees to participate in a brief online survey related to several of the AFU principles.

Coalition building to create an Age-Friendly University (AFU).

There is no single path to becoming an Age-Friendly University (AFU). This paper shares the story of one regional, public university that became the first in its state to join the AFU global network. We discuss how early efforts at coalition building both within and outside the university facilitated the campus-wide endorsement of the AFU principles.

Participation in intergenerational Service-Learning benefits older adults: A brief report.

Most research on intergenerational service-learning has focused on the benefits for college students, with fewer studies examining the benefits to older adults. The present study was designed to assess the impact on older adults of participating in Working Together: Intergenerational Student/Senior Exchange, a brief intergenerational service-learning program that brings together college students and older adults as equal partners to promote intergenerational understanding and communication. Older adults from an assisted living community met up to six times with students enrolled in aging-related courses to discuss a variety of topics and get to know one another.

Geriatric Anxiety Scale: item response theory analysis, differential item functioning, and creation of a ten-item short form (GAS-10).

Background: The Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS; Segal et al. (Segal, D. L.

Pain is prevalent and persisting in cancer survivors: differential factors across age groups.

Objective: The Institute of Medicine documents a significant gap in care for long term side effects of cancer treatment, including pain. This paper characterizes age differences in the prevalence and predictive characteristics of pain to guide clinicians in identification and treatment.

Materials And Methods: A sample of 170 adults with head and neck, esophageal, gastric, or colorectal cancers were recruited from two regional Veterans Administration Medical Centers.

Views of hospice and palliative care among younger and older sexually diverse women.

The aim of the present study was to explore end-of-life health care attitudes among younger and older sexually diverse women. Self-identified lesbian and heterosexual older women as well as lesbian and heterosexual middle-aged women were recruited. Results indicated that lesbian women held significantly more positive beliefs about hospice services and the role of alternative medicines in health care.

Development and initial validation of a self-report assessment tool for anxiety among older adults: the Geriatric Anxiety Scale.

Anxiety is a common experience among older adults and can be a cause for major clinical concern. Brief and psychometrically sound screening instruments are needed to detect anxiety in later life. The purposes of this study were to develop a brief, self-report measure of anxiety for use with older adults (called the Geriatric Anxiety Scale [GAS]) and to report on its preliminary psychometrics.

Religiousness, social support and reasons for living in African American and European American older adults: an exploratory study.

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between religiousness, perceived social support, and reasons for living among European American (n = 37; M age = 67.7 years) and African American (n = 35; M age = 71.1 years) older adults, where ethnicity was predicted to behave as a moderator.