The use of Morycz's desire-to-institutionalize scale across three racial/ethnic groups.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to assess the dimensionality and reliability of a frequently used scale for predicting the desire to institutionalize among White, African American, and Hispanic caregivers of persons with dementia.

Method: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analyses were performed on a slightly modified version of Morycz's (1985) Desire to Institutionalize (DTI) scale separately for each racial group using data from the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) II study (Belle et al., 2006).

Religiousness/spirituality and mental health among older male inmates.

Purpose: With the rapid growth in the older inmate population, emerging issues regarding physical and mental health require greater research and clinical attention. We examined the relation of religiousness/spirituality; demographic characteristics such as age, race, and type of crime; and physical and mental health among 73 older male inmates in the state of Alabama.

Design And Methods: Inmates older than age 50 who passed a cognitive screening completed face-to-face interviews lasting between 30 and 60 min.

The influences of gender and religiousness on Alzheimer disease caregivers' use of informal support and formal services.

Objective. This study explored how male and female family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients differ in their use of formal services and informal support and how religiousness may affect such differences. Methods.

Functional limitations and religious service attendance among African American and white older adults.

Church attendance is associated with improved health and well-being among older adults, but older adults with functional limitations may have difficulty attending church services. This article examines differences in the association between functional limitations and church attendance in a sample of 987 elderly African American and white individuals. African American and white elderly people without limitations attended church at virtually the same rate (69 percent).

Levels of death anxiety: a comparison of American and Lithuanian health and social service personnel.

Globalization, coupled with increased attention to issues surrounding death, highlights the need to explore cultural influences on the social, personal, and psychological consequences of death. This study compared the responses of 82 American and 119 Lithuanian health and social service personnel on seven subscales of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale. Lithuanian participants were more likely to express fear of the dying process and fear of the unknown and were less likely to fear the dead than were Americans.

Positive aspects of Alzheimer's caregiving: the role of race.

We examined differences in positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) among 275 African American and 343 Caucasian caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease from the National Institutes of Health Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Care Health (REACH) study sites in Birmingham, Memphis, and Philadelphia. African Americans reported higher scores on PAC than did Caucasians. African Americans' higher religiosity partially mediated the relationship between race and PAC.

Death anxiety and religiosity among Lithuanian health and social service professionals.

This study examined the applicability of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS; J.W.Hoetler, 1979a) in Lithuania, a culture where death anxiety has not been studied previously.