Application of the Model of Allostasis to Older Women’s Relocation to Senior Housing

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi H. Ewen ◽  
Jennifer Kinney
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Saliva Sample ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Senior Housing ◽  
Detailed Picture ◽  
Analyze Data

Objectives:Adjustment to senior housing entails significant lifestyle changes and is a stressful process. The adaptation process is dynamic and has yet to be studied using the conceptual model of allostasis. This article presents exemplars of women whose profiles represent three allostatic states: successful adaptation (homeostasis), ongoing adaptation (allostasis), and maladaptation (allostatic load).Method:Older women who had relocated to senior housing participated in three interviews and monthly saliva sample collection over a 6-month period. Saliva was assayed for diurnal cortisol secretion. Triangulation of mixed methods was used to analyze data, and psychosocial data were mapped onto the cortisol graphs to illustrate changes in stress reactivity and well-being.Results:Coping abilities, perceptions of stressors, and cortisol measures provide a detailed picture of the interplay among events and perceptions and the effects of both on well-being.Discussion:The case exemplars provide detailed information on the complexity of psychosocial and physiological components of the model of allostasis. This study also fills a gap in knowledge on negative relocation outcomes using the allostatic model.

Cortisol stress reactivity and spiritual well-being after traumatic brain injury

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Hubbarth ◽  
Lisa J. Rapport ◽  
Brigid Waldron-Perrine ◽  
Sarah-Jane Meachen
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spiritual Well Being

A Powerful Antidote to Physician Burnout: Intensive Healthy Lifestyle and Positive Psychology Approaches

2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110066
Author(s):  
Liana Lianov
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Lifestyle Interventions ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Physician Burnout ◽  
Lifestyle Medicine ◽  
Persistent Symptoms

Burnout rates among physicians are rapidly rising. Leaders in the movement to address burnout have made the case that health care workplaces need to foster a culture of well-being, including trusting coworker interactions, collaborative and transparent leadership, work-life balance, flexibility, opportunities for meaningful work and for professional development, and effective 2-way communication. The rationale for focusing on organizational change to prevent burnout has pointed to persistent symptoms of burnout even when individual healthy lifestyle interventions are adopted. However, a case can be made that the lifestyle interventions were not implemented at the level of intensity recommended by the lifestyle medicine evidence-base to secure the desired improvement in physical and mental health when facing significant personal and environmental stressors. The lifestyle medicine community has the ethical mandate to advocate for intensive healthy lifestyle approaches to burnout prevention, in conjunction with organizational supports. By combining comprehensive and intensive lifestyle changes with organizational cultures of well-being, we can more effectively turn the tide of physician burnout.

scholarly journals Explorative healthy aging approaches fostering social innovation: thematizing life course narratives of older women participating in a documentary film

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susie Riva-Mossman ◽  
Henk Verloo
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Relational Networks ◽  
Important Concern ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Learning Processes

The transformative process of investigating life stories and their impact on healthy aging has only recently been explored. The relationship between hope and individual healthy aging strategies is still an under-researched area. This study contributes to filling the knowledgeability gap. The authors examine senior stories of hope and the experience of self-determination and well-being. The study documents the social learning processes of older people as they narratively search for solutions and imagine a hopeful future of healthy aging. A group of four older women participated in a semi-structured filmed interview, questioned by an academic expert. Healthy aging emerged as an important concern among all participants, confirming the need to actively learn how to age well. This exploratory research brought forth thematic clusters, orienting shared value solutions to demographic change. Qualitative research methods reinforce lifelong, collaborative learning processes that not only produce scientific literature, but also put in place relational networks that can grow and endure over time, generating social innovation. The film documented the role of hope and resilience in healthy aging.

scholarly journals Procoagulant reactivity to laboratory acute mental stress in Africans and Caucasians, and its relation to depressive symptoms: The SABPA Study

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 977-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hamer ◽  
Nico T. Malan ◽  
Kobus Scheepers ◽  
Muriel Meiring ◽  
Leonè Malan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Mental Stress ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Peripheral Resistance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
D Dimer

SummaryThe risk of cardiovascular disease is dramatically increasing in Africans (black). The prothrombotic stress response contributes to atherothrombotic disease and is modulated by depressive symptoms. We examined coagulation reactivity to acute mental stress and its relation to psychological well-being in Africans relative to Caucasians (white). A total of 102 African and 165 Caucasian school teachers underwent the Stroop Color-Word Conflict test. Circulating levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF) antigen, fibrinogen, and D-dimer were measured before and after the Stroop. Cardiovascular reactivity measures were also obtained. All participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the General Health Questionnaire-28 for the assessment of depressive symptoms and total psychological distress, respectively. After controlling for covariates, resting levels of VWF, fibrinogen, and D-dimer were higher in Africans than in Caucasians (all p-values ≤0.006). Depressive symptoms and psychological distress were not significantly associated with resting coagulation measures. Stress reactivity in VWF (p<0.001) and fibrinogen (p=0.016), but not in D-dimer (p=0.27), were decreased in Africans relative to Caucasians with Africans showing greater reactivity of total peripheral resistance (p=0.017). Depressive symptoms, but not general psychological distress, were associated with greater VWF increase (p=0.029) and greater fibrinogen decrease (p=0.030) in Africans relative to Caucasians. In conclusion, Africans showed greater hypercoagulability at rest but diminished procoagulant reactivity to acute mental stress when compared with Caucasians. Ethnic differences in the vascular adrenergic stress response might partially explain this finding. Depressive symptoms were associated with exaggerated VWF reactivity in Africans relative to Caucasians. The clinical implications of these findings for Africans need further study.

Influences on Psychological Well-Being and Ill-Being in Older Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wee Hong Tan ◽  
Jeanie Sheffield ◽  
Soo Keat Khoo ◽  
Gerard Byrne ◽  
Nancy A. Pachana
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Well Being

What predicts adjustment to aging among older women in breast cancer remission? The influence of subjective well-being, sense of coherence, and socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related factors

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. s288-s288
Author(s):  
S. von Humboldt ◽  
I. Leal ◽  
F. Carneiro
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Sense Of Coherence ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Cancer Remission ◽  
Breast Cancer Remission ◽  
Adjustment To Aging

ObjectivesTo build a structural model to explore the predictors of adjustment to aging (AtA) reported by older women in breast cancer remission.MethodsOlder women in breast cancer remission (n = 214) aged between 75 and 94 years participated in this study. A questionnaire to determine socio-demographic (age, income, professional and marital status, education, household, living setting and self-reported spirituality), lifestyle and health-related characteristics (physical activity, leisure, perceived health, recent disease and medication), and measures to assess AtA, sense of coherence and subjective well-being, were employed. Structural equation modeling was used to explore a structural model of the self-reported AtA, encompassing all variables.ResultsPreliminary results indicated that self-reported spirituality (β = .397; P < .001), leisure (β = .383; P < .001), physical activity (β = .267; P < .001), perceived health (β = .211; P < .001), marital status (β = .173; P < .001), professional status (β = .156; P = .009), sense of coherence (β = .138; P < .001), and living setting (β = .129; P = .007), predicted AtA. The variables accounted for 79.2% of the variability of AtA.ConclusionSelf-reported spirituality and leisure were the strongest predictors of AtA. Our preliminary findings suggest that health care interventions with older women in breast cancer remission still living in the community may benefit from clearly including predictors of AtA, as these are essential for promoting older women’ s aging well.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals School-Related Stressors and the Intensity of Perceived Stress Experienced by Adolescents in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11791
Author(s):  
Maria Kaczmarek ◽  
Sylwia Trambacz-Oleszak
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Weight Status ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Parental Relationships ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
High Level

Higher stress reactivity during adolescence is a vulnerability marker of exposure to various environmental stressors. This study aimed to investigate the association between a high level of perceived stress experienced by adolescents and stressful stimuli induced from school environment, peer, and parental relationships. The data used were from a cross-sectional, observational study conducted in a stratified sample of 1846 adolescents (13–18 years) in the Wielkopolska province, Poland. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The association of a high level of perceived stress with school-induced exposures was determined using multivariate logistic regression after adjusting for gender, age, height and weight status and interpersonal relationships (STATISTICA 13.1). It was found that girls were over three times more likely than boys to experience a high level of perceived stress. Moreover, girls appeared to be more vulnerable than boys to school-related stressors and weight status, while boys to stressors that can arise from interpersonal relationships. School environment was the only predictor factor of high perceived stress level with a large effect size in both boys (OR = 4.45; 95% CI: 3.11–6.36) and girls (OR = 6.22; 95% CI: 4.18–7.59). Given the findings of the present study, preventive programs are critical to mitigate the effect of stress from school on adolescents’ health and well-being.

scholarly journals Sustainable dietetic models in Europe: the Mediterranean diet as case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Scazzina
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Food System ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Adequate Diet ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Cost

Abstract More than five years since the global commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 690 million people lack sufficient food and economic projections suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may add an additional 83 to 132 million people to the ranks of the undernourished. Meanwhile, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted globally each year, utilizing 38% of total energy consumption in the global food system. Child and adult overweight and obesity are increasing in almost all countries, and on a global level the cost of a healthy diet is 60% higher than the cost of a nutrient adequate diet, and almost 5 times the cost of an energy sufficient diet. The Mediterranean Diet is one of the recognized models of healthy and sustainable diets. This model has proven to promote longevity and well-being, not only by considering specific food items and dietary patterns, but also taking into account the culture and the history of populations living in that region, as well as social aspects such as tradition and conviviality. Moreover, it is strongly tied to a gastronomic background that links health with enjoyment. This may be extremely important for the implementation of feasible programs for the prevention of chronic non communicable diseases. In fact, long lasting lifestyle changes are difficult to achieve and, although health motivations may lead to satisfactory dietary compliance in the short term, pleasure remains an important determinant of any dietary change that is intended to last. While keeping traditional dietary habits at European level, the main principles of the Mediterranean diet could be taken into account to identify key features that ensure both health benefits and sustainable impact on environment. Assessing the sustainability of these products can be an effective operational approach for preserving and promoting a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern in the European region.

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