Living longer increases the risk of cognitive decline, which can cause individuals to become dependent on caregivers. Due to the stressful nature of caregiving, caregiver burden often negatively impacts the quality of life of caregivers and can even cause premature death. In the present study, we examined the relationships between caregiver burden and social support, religious coping, religious attendance, and participation in private prayer. We hypothesized that each variable would contribute uniquely to caregiver burden, such that greater caregiver burden would be associated with lower religious attendance, private prayer, religious coping, and social support. Fifty-nine dementia/Alzheimer’s caregivers (72% women) completed surveys. In a multiple linear regression analysis, variables explained 24.4% of the variance in caregiver burden, R2 = .24, Adj. R2 = .14, F(7, 49) = 2.26, p = .04. Further examination revealed that lower family support was related to greater caregiver burden (β = −.28, p = .04), consistent with predictions. Counter to our hypothesis, greater participation in private prayer was related to higher levels of caregiver burden, but only at the trend level (β = .39, p = .06). Our data suggest that social support, particularly from family members, can help caregivers burdened from the stressful nature of caregiving.

It is very difficult to find and keep workers to provide home-based care for disabled people, especially in rural places. There is a tension between the rights of disabled people and the rights of home-based personal care workers. In this brief review, we explore the intersections of historical and social forces that shaped federal-level policies for both disability rights and the rights of personal care workers, as well as the current state of the policies. This paper provides a narrow focus on federal policies relevant to both groups, while also considering how the urbancentric nature of advocacy and policymaking has failed to address important issues experienced by rural people. In addition to briefly reviewing relevant federal policies, we also explore sources of support and resistance and how urbanormativity, ableism, and sexism intersect to influence how the needs of people with disabilities and their personal care workers are conceptualized and addressed. We conclude with recommendations for how to better address the needs of rural people with disabilities using home-based personal care services and the workers who provide them.

Objective: This study examines the relationships between working memory, memory self-efficacy (MSE), and community participation among older adults. Method: 203 United States older adults (age 55+) were recruited through MTurk to complete surveys and a memory task. A multiple linear regression was used to regress MSE and community participation. Main Findings: Entering all variables into the model explained 45% of the variance in community participation (R2 = .45, Adj. R2 = .41, F(7, 141) T = 16.26, p < .001). MSE was positively related to community participation (β = .38, p < .001), as predicted. However, contrary to hypotheses, worse working memory (β = -.22, p = .001) and greater difficulty remembering/concentrating (β = .26, p < .001) predicted higher levels of community participation. Conclusions: It is reasonable to conclude that one’s beliefs about their memory ability is an important consideration when one chooses to engage in community events. Keywords: memory self-efficacy, community participation, aging, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease

Personal assistance services (PAS) are supports provided by workers to assist disabled people with their activities of daily living. Access to in-home PAS allows people who need assistance with these activities to live in their own homes and communities, rather than moving to congregate living facilities. Because metro and non-metro areas differ in many ways, we explored the following research questions: (1) Are there differences between non-metro and metro PAS users?, (2) What factors are associated with satisfaction with services?, and (3) What factors are associated with satisfaction with community participation?. We randomly surveyed PAS consumers in five states about their experiences with PAS. To answer the first question, we compared metro or non-metro consumers using independent samples t-tests. We found few statistically significant differences between metro and non-metro respondents. To answer the second and third research questions, we conducted linear regressions predicting our dependent variables. In terms of satisfaction with services, our model explained very little of the variance, other than finding that being partnered or married was significantly, positively related to satisfaction with services. In predicting satisfaction with community participation, the model explained about a quarter of the variance, with having fewer disabilities and higher health status predicting more satisfaction. This research indicates that there are few differences between metro and non-metro low-income PAS consumers and that more research is needed to understand what factors are related to satisfaction with services and community participation in this population.