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A Life Course Disability Model for understanding Aging with a Chronic Condition

Baker, Hallie Elizabeth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1250083380

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Gerontology.
The current research project seeks to understand aging with a disability or chronic condition as a life-long process occurring for an increasing number of individuals in the United States. For individuals aging with chronic conditions or a disability, factors beside age influence the likelihood of developing a change in health status in later life. The primary research questions ask: 1. What factors influence a change in health status for individuals aging with a potentially disabling condition (e.g. polio)? and 2. Does age maintain power as a predictor or explanatory factor as additional life course and health factors are added to the model? To answer the research questions, a new model of disability was developed using polio survivors as a basis. Combining Verbrugge and Jette’s disablement process model and the life course perspective, the life course disability model predicts five categories of factors as influencing the likelihood of an individual developing a change in health status in later life. The five categories of factors include antecedent, extra-individual, risk, intra-individual, and condition-specific. Using a three-phase analysis, first the group of individuals experiencing a change in health status was compared to their peer group without a change in health. Next, the five categories of factors were modeled using logistic regression to determine their explanatory power. Finally, all categories of factors were modeled to test how well the life course disability model explained variation within the sample. Although all models were significant, the final results of the regression models demonstrated the life course disability model’s ability to explain up to 33% of the variation in the sample. Additionally, age was not a statistically significant factor in a majority of the models predicting the likelihood of developing a change in health status in later life. Thus, support is found for using the life course model of disability to examine the accumulation of factors which influence the likelihood of developing a change in health status in later life.
Suzanne Kunkel, PhD (Committee Chair)
Jennifer Kinney, PhD (Committee Member)
Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, PhD (Committee Member)
Jean Lynch, PhD (Committee Member)
Ann Fuehrer, PhD (Committee Member)
97 p.
Gerontology
Disability; life course perspective; polio; models of disability

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Baker, H. E. (2009). A Life Course Disability Model for understanding Aging with a Chronic Condition [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1250083380

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Baker, Hallie. A Life Course Disability Model for understanding Aging with a Chronic Condition. 2009. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1250083380.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Baker, Hallie. "A Life Course Disability Model for understanding Aging with a Chronic Condition." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1250083380

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1250083380
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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.