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Reminiscence, a specific form of autobiographical memory that aids in the development of a sense of self, serves several functions. The current study extends the literature on reminiscence (between-group differences in reminiscence functions) by examining the heterogeneity of reminiscence to identify patterns of reminiscence using person-centered statistics. The study utilized data collected by Webster and colleagues comprised of 907 participants ranging in age from 17 to 88 years. Latent profile analysis and finite mixture modeling were used to discern distinct profiles of the Reminiscence Functions Scale’s eight functions of reminiscence, age, and gender. A three-class solution fit the data best, indicating that three distinct profiles of reminiscing were present in the data. The Young-Adult Self-Negative reminiscing profile was characterized by the highest scores on the Bitterness Revival and Boredom Reduction factors. The Middle-Adult Self-Positive reminiscing profile had the lowest mean scores on all reminiscing factors among the three profiles, but was relatively high on Identity, Problem-Solving, Teach/Inform, and Conversation factors. The Older-Adult Self-Positive Pro-Social reminiscing profile was characterized by the highest scores on Death Preparation, Identity, Problem-Solving, Teach/Inform, and Conversation factors. This study contributes to our understanding of reminiscence by identifying distinct patterns of reminiscence functions and age and offering further support for the three higher-order factor structure of reminiscing.

Background and Objectives The expanding population of older adults in the United States, coupled with provider hesitance to work with this population, is expected to result in a large service gap, particularly in the health care field. Research on provider hesitancy has largely focused on the impact of attitudes toward older adults and professional competency, with some recent explorations of social influences. There is currently no comprehensive measure that includes all of these areas. Research Design and Methods The present study outlines the development of the Working with Older Adults Scale (WOAS), which is grounded in the theory of planned behavior as applied to working with older adults. The WOAS is composed of 20 items, rated on a 7-point Likert scale, that make up four subscales: (i) Attitude, (ii) Subjective Norm, (iii) Perceived Behavioral Control, and (iv) Intention. Results Results indicated that, for the young adult college student sample it was developed with, the measure has an excellent factor structure and good internal reliability and construct validity. Consistent with the theory of planned behavior model, intention to work with older adults was significantly predicted by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Subjective norm accounted for the greatest amount of variance. Further analyses revealed differential effects of age, gender, and experience on the WOAS subscales. Discussion and Implications The WOAS, and underlying theory, offers new insights and ideas for future exploration of the service gap between older adults’ needs and professional availability across health service fields.

The present study extends previous work on communication after sexual activity by investigating the influence of “pillow talk” over time within relationships that have experienced a recent transgre...

Ageist attitudes are concerning when considering who will enter the geriatric workforce. The impact of ageism on intent to work with older adults (OAs) between North American and non-North American individuals is unclear. We collected data from N=186 students (n=153 N. American, n=33 non-N. American), examining ageist attitudes and intent to work with OAs. We found significant differences between groups in ageist attitudes; North American students had more positive views of aging (M=88.64, SE=0.72) than non-North American students (M=85.33, SE = 1.42; t (167) = 2.04, p = 0.04, d=0.39), but there were no differences between groups for intent to work with OAs (t (174) = 0.09, p = 0.93). Ageist attitudes predicted intent to work with OAs for North American students only (F (2, 112) = 8.82, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.14). We discuss implications of ageism and intent to work with OAs from a cross-cultural lens.

Ageism is recognized around the world as detrimental to older adults’ health and well-being, and there are differences in how cultures view older adults. Infrequently are ageist attitudes among cultures compared within one study. Here, we sought to examine views on older adults across cultures in a sample of university students attending school in North America (n=31). As part of a larger survey of ageist attitudes, we conducted a thematic analysis on open-ended responses to the question “How are older adults viewed in your culture?” Half of the respondents were international students. Results found similarities and differences between groups. First, both groups saw older adults as individuals who are and should be respected. Second, however, North American students viewed older adults as “important” and “role models”, whereas international students viewed older adults as “leaders” of and at the “head of the family”. Third, North American students saw older adults as “needing extra help.” In contrast, international students reported that families “should provide care” as a duty or responsibility. Fourth, North American students believed older adults provide “wisdom,” “love,” and “support” but the international students felt older adults provided knowledge, experience, and opinions that are valued by the family and society that are important to decision making. Finally, North American students describe negative perceptions and experiences with older adults, which was completely absent from the international students responses. Results are discussed in a cultural context of personal and formal relationships with elders.

Adultism is an underappreciated influence on young adults’ career choices and a hidden contributing factor to the geropsychology workforce shortage. This study reports on the development of an Adultist Concerns scale and its correlations with several factors relevant to careers in aging. Clinical psychology doctoral students (n = 109) completed the new scale along with measures of ageism, training interests, and experience working with older adults. The Adultist Concerns scale had strong internal consistency (α = .952) and factor loadings .853 and .929. Females scored significantly higher than males (p = .003). There were significant positive correlations between Adultist Concerns and both overall ageist behaviors (p = .002) and negative ageist behaviors specifically (p = .002). Adultist concerns were significantly negatively correlated with age (p = .000), interest in working with older adults (p = .003), and experience with this population (p = .043).

Active engagement in health policy by psychologists is vital to the well-being of the aging population; however, few feel prepared to engage in policy making or know how to get involved. A novel policy curriculum was developed and integrated into an undergraduate psychology course. N = 34 students completed assessments of policy knowledge and assignments designed to increase their skills, knowledge, and critical thinking about health policy. Students reported strong beliefs that psychological research can impact health policies and a desire to understand how to use research to inform policy; however, they reported less understanding of how policy is made. Preliminary evidence suggests students are interested in applying psychological research to policy processes; however, they do not know how to get involved. Policy education was easily integrated into the course, and further study is needed to determine students’ future engagement in health policy and change health policy skills.

In order to address the geropsychology workforce shortage, educators are trying to better understand the attitudes, interests, and needs of prospective students as well as expand educational opportunities and specialty competence. This symposium reports on several recent and ongoing research projects and educational initiatives which can together inform future efforts to recruit students into the field. King et al. discuss how concerns about adultist oppression might keep young adults from entering the field. This study describes a new adultism measure which positively correlates with ageism and negatively correlates with both experience and interest in working with older adults. Together with Strong and Graham’s study looking at ageism among North American and non-North American students, these studies remind us of the continued effort needed to better understand and combat age-related oppression of individuals at both ends of the lifespan. Two studies share specific educational initiatives addressing areas of essential but undervalues areas of training for geropsychologists. O’Malley and Graham report on the integration of health policy training into undergraduate education, while Jacobs et al. describing a new performance-based evaluation tool for training in the assessment of decision-making capacity. Postgraduate specialization continues to be crucial in establishing and growing the discipline of geropsychology. Mlinac and Smith report on the development of a mentorship program for professionals on the path to board certification.

As Veterans age, they may experience an emergence or exacerbation of stress symptomatology. Later-Adulthood Trauma Reengagement (LATR) is an intervention that provides psychoeducation on the LATR process, teaches mindfulness and coping, facilitates trauma re-integration, and fosters meaning-making in late life. This program evaluation project evaluated the LATR group offered in the Geriatric Mental Health Clinic at VA Boston. Twenty-one Vietnam Veterans with PTSD symptomatology were referred to the group between 2017-2018. Fifteen completed the 10-week group, and 12 completed pre- and post-intervention assessments and offered feedback. At the conclusion of the group, Veterans reported a decrease in depressive and PTSD symptoms. Of the 4 Veterans who endorsed suicidal ideation at the start of the group, 3 reported a decrease post-group. Veterans endorsed slightly more positive appraisals of their military service. Veterans reported that the group offered support, connection, and a sense of belonging with other Veterans, helped increase coping, and increased insight into thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A suggested improvement to the group was to offer more sessions. Eleven Veterans sought continued mental health services following the group; three newly sought trauma-focused interventions. Four Veterans reported that their trauma-related symptoms were resolved and declined referral. Veterans found the LATR group helpful as evidenced by reduction in symptoms and responses to open-ended questions. A small number sought additional trauma-focused treatment; others reported that their symptoms were resolved and did not require additional treatment. Findings support the continued offering of the LATR group within this clinical setting.

The expanding population of older adults, coupled with provider hesitance, is expected to result in a large service gap in the healthcare field. Research has largely focused on the impact of attitudes toward older adults and professional competency, with some recent explorations of social influences. There is currently no comprehensive measure that includes all of these areas. The present study outlines the development of the Working with Older Adults Scale (WOAS), which is grounded in the theory of planned behavior. Results indicated that the measure has an excellent factor structure and good internal reliability and construct validity. Intention to work with older adults was significantly predicted by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, with subjective norm accounting for the greatest amount of variance. The WOAS offers new insights and ideas for future exploration of the service gap between older adults needs and professional availability across health service fields.

Meaning in life is the term used to describe how people make sense of their lives, how they commit to pursuing purpose in life, and how they come to see their lives as significant and worthwhile. Committing wrongs against other people or our own moral code, might—perhaps even ought to—challenges these components of a meaningful life. In fact, such wrongs may be considered to constitute a rupture in meaning, with a potential to spark intractable cycles of rumination. In this chapter, we propose that self-forgiveness and meaning work together to enable people to resolve their rumination, learn more about themselves, make reparations, and move toward healing their own hurt and that which they caused in others.

Approximately 270,000 seniors (55+) in the U.S. engage in volunteering through Senior Corps’ programs (Corporation for National Community and Service, 2016). Volunteering in older adulthood has been consistently connected with psychological, physical, and cognitive well-being (Carr, 2018), with a moderate level of volunteering considered optimal (Windsor, Anstey, and Rodgers, 2008). The relationship between perceived level of demands within a volunteering position (e.g., physical, social, and cognitive demands) and well-being has not been explored. The sample consisted of 110 senior volunteers in Colorado (Mage=71 years). The median number of volunteer hours over the past 12 months was 100 hours (M=157, SD=162). We investigated how hours of volunteering and characteristics of volunteer work relate to five dimensions of subjective well-being (e.g., positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment; Butler & Kern, 2016), and overall health status. Number of hours spent volunteering was positively related to one of the well-being variables, meaning (r= .21, p=.03). Volunteers who described their work as being more socially demanding reported being in worse health (r =-.28, p = .07). Volunteers who described their work as being more physically demanding indicated that they believed others were better off as a result of their work (r =.45, p =.003). The results of the present study support the positive impact of volunteering on well-being. Specifically, greater volunteering is related to a sense of purpose in life or sense that life matters. These results also indicate that exploring the impact of volunteer work characteristics may be a direction for future research.

PurposeThis paper seeks to explores the notion that leadership is not the accumulation of leadership skills but the discovery and expression of a leader's true nature. The paper also aims to introduce the concept of the 4Ps of soul leadership.Design/methodology/approachThis paper offers the author's independent perspective and commentary on leadership development in the current organizational context.FindingsThe paper finds that the strongest leaders are those that lead through an awareness and expression of their unique 4Ps (passion, purpose, possibilities, place) of soul leadership. This is increasingly true in complex, global environments of unprecedented change.Practical implicationsLeadership development (and skill building in general) is more effective if built on a foundation of self‐awareness and connection to an individual's 4Ps.Social implicationsSoul leadership encourages individuals and organizations to be the best possible version of themselves. In aligning to one's passions and purpose natural leadership, productivity and creativity are likely to come to the fore, which fuels individual, organizational and societal growth in turn.Originality/valueReframing leadership as a unique expression of an individual's 4Ps with implications for individuals, organizational leaders and learning and development practitioners.

Each individual is free, and inevitably responsible, to determine the parameters of his or her life, what is best to suffer for, connect with, choose, and believe. This chapter explores how two different traditions have examined such ultimate concerns of life. The existential perspective and the positive psychology perspective are evaluated with an eye toward how each has probed the interplay between the uniqueness and the universality of being human. The existential perspective highlights the tentative nature of existence: we are fragile in our mortality; fragile in our legacy; and fragile in our beliefs about the world. According to existentialism, we must forge our own path in the arbitrary, senseless, and often cruel world. A central challenge for each of us is to confront such realizations, acknowledge that only we have the ability to create our own identities, choices, and lives. The positive psychology perspective does not necessarily disagree with this emphasis on the freedom and responsibility of individuals, and it also prizes the forging of meaning as a cornerstone of a life worth living. However, positive psychology seeks to establish empirically those factors that help people find meaning. This empirical quest to document facets of the meaningful life has revealed that individual agency is an important component, but so too are genuine, intimate relationships, positive emotions, and a sense of expressing one’s true self. We conclude that the positive psychology perspective provides a hopeful, data-driven view on how people can answer the pressing questions central to our existence.