Family caregiving experiences of medical school faculty: high prevalence, high strain, and low resource awareness.

Background: Adult caregiving can be demanding and stressful, especially when the caregiver is employed. As the age of the U.S.

Commitment to inclusion: The importance of collaboration in gender equity work.

Despite decades of faculty professional development programs created to prepare women for leadership, gender inequities persist in salary, promotion, and leadership roles. Indeed, men still earn more than women, are more likely than women to hold the rank of professor, and hold the vast majority of positions of power in academic medicine. Institutions demonstrate commitment to their faculty's growth by investing resources, including creating faculty development programs.

Factors Influencing Retirement Decisions of Senior Faculty at U.S. Medical Schools: Are There Gender-Based Differences?

Women comprise almost one-third of academic medicine faculty 60 years of age and older. Gender disparities have been documented across many measures in medicine, including salary, promotion rates, and leadership positions and may impact long-term career and retirement decisions. The authors sought to describe gender differences in retirement decisions among late-career, full-time medical school faculty.

Prevalence of caregiving and high caregiving strain among late-career medical school faculty members: workforce, policy, and faculty development implications.

Background: Nearly one-third of medical school faculty members are age 55 + . As our population ages, the prevalence of family caregiving is increasing, yet we know very little about the caregiving experiences of aging faculty members in academic medicine. Faculty caregiving responsibilities coupled with projected physician shortages will likely impact the future academic medical workforce.

Mindful Ethical Practice and Resilience Academy: Equipping Nurses to Address Ethical Challenges.

Background: Ethical challenges in clinical practice significantly affect frontline nurses, leading to moral distress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction, which can undermine safety, quality, and compassionate care.

Objectives: To examine the impact of a longitudinal, experiential educational curriculum to enhance nurses' skills in mindfulness, resilience, confidence, and competence to confront ethical challenges in clinical practice.

Methods: A prospective repeated-measures study was conducted before and after a curricular intervention at 2 hospitals in a large academic medical system.

"It's a Little Different for Men"-Sponsorship and Gender in Academic Medicine: a Qualitative Study.

Background: Women remain underrepresented in top leadership positions in academic medicine. In business settings, a person with power and influence actively supporting the career advancement of a junior person is referred to as a sponsor and sponsorship programs have been used to diversify leadership. Little is known about how sponsorship functions in academic medicine.

Late-Career Expectations: A Survey of Full-Time Faculty Members Who Are 55 or Older at 14 U.S. Medical Schools.

Purpose: The average age of full-time faculty members at U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education was 49.

Late-Career Faculty: A Survey of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development Leaders of U.S. Medical Schools.

Purpose: Individuals 55 or older constitute 28.5% of the U.S.

The Health of America's Aging Prison Population.

Older incarcerated individuals comprise the fastest growing demographic in the US prison system. Unhealthy lifestyles among incarcerated individuals and inadequate health care lead to earlier onset and more rapid progression of many chronic conditions that are prevalent among community-living older adults. There are limited peer-reviewed epidemiologic data in this area; however, there is growing interest in identifying strategies for housing aging incarcerated individuals, delivering appropriate health care in prisons, and coordinating after-release health care.

Perceived discrimination and health-related quality-of-life: gender differences among older African Americans.

Purpose: Emerging data suggest that African-American women may fare worse than African-American men in health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL). Perceived discrimination is an important contributor to poor health overall among African Americans, but few studies examined the intersecting effects of perceived discrimination and gender in explaining HRQOL disparities. We investigated gender differences in HRQOL and tested whether perceived discrimination accounted for these differences.

Junior Investigators Thinking About Quitting Research: A Survey.

Objective: Junior tenure-track faculty report high levels of stress and low satisfaction; the increasingly competitive funding environment compounds this discontent. We examined factors associated with junior investigators who were thinking about quitting research.

Method: Data were collected as part of a program evaluation of an interdisciplinary research mentoring program in an academic medical center.

Distinct age and self-rated health crossover mortality effects for African Americans: Evidence from a national cohort study.

The predictive effects of age and self-rated health (SRH) on all-cause mortality are known to differ across race and ethnic groups. African American adults have higher mortality rates than Whites at younger ages, but this mortality disparity diminishes with advancing age and may "crossover" at about 75-80 years of age, when African Americans may show lower mortality rates. This pattern of findings reflects a lower overall association between age and mortality for African Americans than for Whites, and health-related mechanisms are typically cited as the reason for this age-based crossover mortality effect.

Physical and Cognitive Activities as Deterrents of Cognitive Decline in a Biracial Population Sample.

Objective: Physical and cognitive activities are associated with slower cognitive decline. Few studies have examined racial differences in these associations, however. The aim of this study was to examine the association of physical and cognitive activities with level and change in cognitive function among black and white participants.

Do Local Social Hierarchies Matter for Mental Health? A Study of Neighborhood Social Status and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults.

Objectives: Despite a well-established association between relative social position and health, stratification at smaller levels of social organization has received scant attention. Neighborhood is a localized context that has increasing relevance for adults as they age, thus one's relative position within this type of mesolevel group may have an effect on mental health, independent of absolute level of social and economic resources. We examine the relationship between an older adult's relative rank within their neighborhoods on two criteria and depressive symptoms.

The association of adverse childhood experiences with mid-life depressive symptoms and quality of life among incarcerated males: exploring multiple mediation.

Objectives: To explore the association of experiencing death, trauma, and abuse during childhood with depressive symptoms and quality of life at mid-life among incarcerated men and to understand how current social support and coping strategies mediate the impact of childhood trauma histories on mental health.

Methods: Study participants were 192 male inmates in a maximum security prison. Participants completed measures of adverse childhood experiences related to death, trauma, and abuse, and depressive symptoms and quality of life.

Implementation and evaluation of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine leadership program for women faculty.

Background: Women continue to be underrepresented in top leadership roles in academic medicine. Leadership training programs for women are designed to enhance women's leadership skills and confidence and increase overall leadership diversity. The authors present a description and evaluation of a longitudinal, cohort-based, experiential leadership program for women faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Gene-behavior interaction of depressive symptoms and the apolipoprotein E {varepsilon}4 allele on cognitive decline.

Objective: Depressive symptoms and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele are independent risk factors for cognitive decline. However, it is not clear whether the presence of both depressive symptoms and the APOE ε4 allele increases cognitive decline.

Methods: A prospective study of a population-based sample of 4150 (70% African American and 63% women) participants 65 years and older who were interviewed at 3-year intervals was conducted.

Gene-environment interaction of body mass index and apolipoprotein E ε4 allele on cognitive decline.

Genetic variation alone may not account for common chronic disease susceptibility. Rather, an interaction between genetic and environmental factors may clarify the underlying disease mechanism. Hence, we tested whether body mass index (BMI) modified the genetic association of the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele with cognitive decline.

Race differences in the association of spiritual experiences and life satisfaction in older age.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to examine an African American 'faith advantage' in life satisfaction. Specifically, we sought to test the hypothesis that the positive relationship between spiritual experiences and life satisfaction is stronger among older African Americans than among older Whites.

Method: The data came from 6864 community-dwelling persons aged 65+ (66% African American) who participated in the Chicago Health and Aging Project.

Worship attendance and the disability process in community-dwelling older adults.

Objectives: We examined the contribution of religious involvement to age-related declines in health by examining the association of worship attendance with measures of different stages in the disability continuum.

Method: Participants included 5,863 Black and White older adults from the Chicago Health and Aging Project. Worship attendance was coded in 3 levels: very frequent (several times a week or more), frequent (several times a month), and infrequent (several times a year or less).

The Relationship Between Mentally Unhealthy Days and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults Over Time.

This article sought to determine the extent to which the number of self-reported mentally unhealthy days (MUDs) in the past 30 days estimates depressive symptoms in older adults. The sample of 4,321 community-dwelling residents aged 65 and above originated from an ongoing population-based study of older Blacks and Whites. Participants' data from 1993 through 2005 included the single MUD question and questions from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale (CES-D).

Depressive symptoms and cardiovascular mortality in older black and white adults: evidence for a differential association by race.

Background: An emerging body of research suggests that depressive symptoms may confer an "accelerated risk" for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in blacks compared with whites. Research in this area has been limited to cardiovascular risk factors and early markers; less is known about black-white differences in associations with important clinical end points.

Methods And Results: The authors examined the association between depressive symptoms and overall CVD mortality, ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality, and stroke mortality in a sample of 6158 (62% black; 61% female) community-dwelling older adults.

Neighborhood socioeconomic conditions are associated with psychosocial functioning in older black and white adults.

We examined neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) in relation to depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and hostility in 5770 community-dwelling older black and white adults (mean age=73 years; 62% female) from 3 contiguous neighborhoods covering 82 census block groups in Chicago, IL. NSES was an average of z-scores of four Census 2000 block-group variables: % public assistance, % households earning <$25,000 annually, % with >college degree, and % owner-occupied dwellings valued >$200,000. NSES was inversely related to hostility (beta=-0.