Publications by authors named "Jeffrey A Buchanan"

Age-related microaggressions are forms of ageist discrimination that occur in day-to-day interactions. This study aimed to validate the findings of a previous study, to identify common age-related microaggressions, and determine how affect influences emotional reactions to microaggressions. Using an online survey, participants ( = 200) were asked about their experience with age-related microaggressions, their affect, and their physical health.

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Background And Objectives: The aim of this study was to expand the literature on ageism by exploring the phenomenon of age-related microaggressions.

Research Design And Methods: Fifty-one participants completed an online survey asking a series of questions about their experiences with microaggressions related to their age. Responses were summarized using a thematic analysis.

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: Stimulus preference assessments are a systematic, observation-based approach for identifying preferences among individuals with impaired communication skills. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the existing empirical literature that has utilized these methods with persons who have neurocognitive disorder (NCD).: Studies were identified by searching online databases using a variety of search terms.

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The current study compared the effects of 15-min acceptance-based and cognitive reappraisal-based interventions on experiential avoidance (EA) in socially anxious college students who participated in an experimental public speaking task. Participants were randomly assigned to receive one of the two interventions designed to aid in preparation for a 5-min laboratory-based public speaking task. Results indicated that participants receiving the acceptance-based intervention reported significantly lower levels of EA at the post-public speaking task measurement time, indicating that this brief acceptance-based intervention yielded the proposed mechanism of action in the sample used for this study.

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Introduction: Existing measures designed to assess family involvement in the lives of older adults residing in long-term care facilities are basic, using visitation frequency as the prominent gauge of involvement in a situation specific fashion. The purpose of this study was to design and validate a measure of family involvement that could be used to gauge more aspects of family involvement than visitation alone and be useful in a variety of settings for both researchers and long-term care facility administrators.

Methods: Long-term facility staff were asked to assist in creating a 40-item questionnaire that used 4-point Likert scales to measure various aspects of family involvement.

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Resident-to-resident bullying has attracted attention in the media, but little empirical literature exists related to the topic of senior bullying. The aim of the current study was to better understand resident-to-resident bullying from the perspective of staff who work with older adults. Forty-five long-term care staff members were interviewed regarding their observations of bullying.

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Within the field of gerontology, several different theories have attempted to explain common psychological and social changes associated with the aging process. The Theory of Gerotranscendence is one such theory which purports that a shift in meta-perspective from a more materialistic and pragmatic view of the world to a more cosmic and transcendent one occurs as we age. Corresponding with this shift in meta-perspective, the individual exhibits certain behaviors that could be mistaken as signs of psychopathology if viewed based on the assumptions of more culturally-assimilated theories of aging.

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We have noted an unusual phenomenon in our association with an inpatient behavioral health facility located in the midwestern United States. Most consumers treated in this facility exhibit conduct disorders, oppositional defiant disorder or attention deficit disorders. The facility also treats individuals with various anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and autism.

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Verbal communication between nursing assistants and individuals with dementia can be challenging, particularly during hands-on caregiving tasks. Although there are many aspects of verbal communication that can affect the quality of an interaction, one potentially important communication variable is the types of commands issued by nursing assistants when they need a resident to complete a task. The purpose of this study was to examine the kinds of commands used by nursing care staff when they interact with patients with dementia during activities of daily living.

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With the rapidly aging population, it is expected that increases in cases of dementia will double over the next 20 years. Currently, there is no cure for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia (FTD) that cause progressive dementia, and only a few pharmacological interventions that slow the progression of the decline exist. Given that there is no cure available, a rehabilitation approach that emphasizes maintaining existing abilities and removing excess disability (as opposed to emphasizing cure or recovery) for as long as possible is warranted.

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The Pyramids and Palm Trees Test (PPT) is a nonverbal measure of semantic memory that has been frequently used in previous aphasia, agnosia, and dementia research. Very little psychometric information regarding the PPT is available. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the PPT in a population of healthy college students.

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Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) was used as an intervention with 2 elderly dementia patients who engaged in disruptive vocalization. Several assessment procedures, including functional analysis, were conducted to identify reinforcing stimuli for use in the NCR intervention. Functional analyses and the NCR intervention were implemented in each participant's natural environment.

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