Rebecca L Utz
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 140083 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Rebecca L Utz |
| PRENOMES | Rebecca L |
| SOBRENOME | Utz |
| ASSINATURA | UTZ R L |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Utah |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7734-7676 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 36 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 222 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 36 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2000 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Online surveys
Quality of life matters to me more than life, itself”
This study explored healthy older adults' values and preferences for controlling time of death and if these preferences change with hypothetical future disease. We used an interpretive descriptive approach to analyze open text responses (N = 121) from a national study on end-of-life values and preferences (age ≥ 50, N = 517). Codes/categories were developed deductively by three coders who engaged in ongoing conversation about discrepancies and re…
Using Digital Inequality Framework to Evaluate a Technology-Delivered Intervention for Caregivers
Objectives: Using “digital inequality” as a conceptual framework, this study evaluates the feasibility and usability of a technology-delivered intervention (an “app”) for Alzheimer’s and related dementia family caregivers. Time for Living and Caring (TLC) is an on-line intervention that provides virtual coaching and self-administered education and resources. Methods: A sample of family caregivers ( n = 163) used the tool for 16 weeks, which inclu…
The association of religion with advance care planning
Personal preferences influence end-of-life (EOL) decision-making and are commonly associated with engagement in the advance care planning process. Completing an advance directive (AD) allows individuals to formally document and legally report their EOL care preferences. This study explored how two aspects of religion-personal religious beliefs and formal religion practices-may be associated with advance care planning. A national sample of healthy…
Mortality risk following end-of-life caregiving
Health Disparities in Advance Care Planning
Introduction: The LEAD (Life-Planning in Early Alzheimer's and Other Dementias) Guide is an advance care planning (ACP) tool for use within the context of dementia. To meet the needs of diverse communities, we sought to create a culturally sensitive and translated Latin American Spanish version of the guide. Methods: First, the guide was translated into Spanish. Second, we conducted forward and backward translations. Third, focus groups with Span…
Disparities and determinants of place of death
To better understand determinants and potential disparities in end of life, we model decedents' place of death with explanatory variables describing familial, social, and economic resources. A retrospective cohort of 204,041 decedents and their family members are drawn from the Utah Population Database family caregiving dataset. Using multinomial regression, we model place of death, categorized as at home, in a hospital, in another location, or u…
Beyond Patient-Provider Relationships
Role conflict and strain occur when healthcare providers are required to cross boundaries, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to meet the needs of their dying patients. This research is an unobtrusive digital ethnography of a publicly accessible online forum for healthcare providers ( N = 242 posts); it explores the boundaries set by families and healthcare providers, and identifies how healthcare providers navigate and which circumstances requ…
Illness, Social Disadvantage, and Sexual Risk Behavior in Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood
Doing” healthcare at end-of-life
Observing how healthcare providers deal with death and dying, in terms of " doing " identity, allows us to explore how they cope with patient end-of-life (EOL) and highlights how the professional identity breaks down while managing patient death and dying. We conducted a digital ethnography of a publicly-accessible online forum for healthcare professionals. Providers' personal experiences with patient death and dying were interpreted through inte…
Hospitalization following eating disorder diagnosis
Eating Disorders (ED) are defined as abnormal eating behaviors, stemming from an obsession with food, body weight, or body shape. EDs affect 10 million men and 20 million women in the US, with an estimated 15% lifetime prevalence among women. An ED diagnosis is often accompanied with a host of adverse physical and mental health outcomes, including a heightened risk for suicidality. Given the complex comorbidities associated with EDs, treatment oc…
For Better or for Worse
Objective: To examine how changes in health are associated with marital quality over a 20-year period of midlife. Background: The health benefit associated with marriage (compared to non-marriage) is well established. Less work has explored how health and changes in a couple's health are associated with the marital relationship. Method: We used a sample of continuously married individuals who participated in three waves of the Midlife in the Unit…
Families in Later Life
Later-life families encompass the legal, biological, romantic, and kin-like relationships of persons ages 65 and older. Research on older families has flourished over the past decade, as population aging has intensified concerns regarding the capacities of families to care for older adults and the adequacy of public pension systems to provide an acceptable standard of living. Shifting patterns of family formation over the past half-century have c…
Health profiles of spouse caregivers
Sex ratios and life tables
The male/female sex ratio (SR) and its age-specific patterns vary considerably across time and place. The SR generally begins male-biased at birth and becomes female-biased later in life, but this relationship should respond to historical trends and events. Temporal trends in SRs remain largely unstudied and formal demographic relationships are not well defined. We (1) define SRs in a life table framework, (2) estimate the age at which the number…
Cancer Caregivers’ Preparedness for Loss and Bereavement Outcomes
Past studies examining the relationship between preparedness for loss and bereavement outcomes among caregivers of spouses/partners with life-limiting illness did not adequately account for preloss caregiver attributes that could potentially confound the relationship. Using a sample of spouse/partner cancer caregivers ( N = 226), we examined how preloss caregiver attributes were associated with how prepared one felt for loss and their role in the…
One Size Doesn’t Fit All”— Partners in Hospice Care, an Individualized Approach to Bereavement Intervention
We concluded in a recent study that a "one size fits all" approach typical of group interventions often does not adequately accommodate the range of situations, life experiences, and current needs of participants. We describe how this limitation informed the design and implementation of an individually-delivered intervention format more specifically tailored to the unique needs of each bereaved person. The intervention comprises one of three inte…
Clarifying hierarchical age-period-cohort models
Walking the Dog
Depressive Symptoms Following the Diagnosis of Major Chronic Illness
Past research has shown that diagnosis with a major chronic illness tends to increase levels of depressive symptoms. However, little is known about how mental health following diagnosis differs across sex and racial-ethnic subgroups. To test how diagnosis with heart disease or cancer affected the expected number of depressive symptoms over time, we utilized panel data from a national sample of 12,271 older adults. Analyses explored subgroup varia…
Friend and Family Contact and Support in Early Widowhood
These analyses support the voluntary and socializing functions of friendship and social support, bolstering individuals during stressful life transitions, advancing our understanding of the underexamined and particularly distinct functions of friendship in the early phases of spousal loss
Feeling Lonely Versus Being Alone
There is conceptual and empirical overlap between the concepts of loneliness and social support, but results suggest that loneliness following widowhood cannot be remedied by interventions aimed only at increasing social support. Social support, especially that from friends, appears to be most effective if it is readily accessible and allows the newly bereaved an opportunity to express him/herself
Spousal Bereavement following Cancer Death
Loss due to cancer could predispose surviving spouses or partners to a variety of negative outcomes. Although a terminal prognosis may provide opportunities to prepare for the loss, existing evidence is inconclusive as to whether death expectedness buffers potentially negative bereavement outcomes. Using data from the Living After Loss study, we examined longitudinally outcomes of bereaved individuals whose spouses/partners died from cancer (n = …
Coping Processes Among Bereaved Spouses
The authors investigated if an intervention based on the dual process model (vs. traditional bereavement support) enhanced oscillation between loss- (LO) and restoration-oriented (RO) coping of recently bereaved (2-6 months) spouses/partners. Participants were followed over 12 months. The authors found an increased emphasis over time on RO coping, particularly for women and those who were younger; however, no treatment effect was detected. Althou…
Parental Divorce Among Young and Adult Children
This analysis uses a middle-aged sample (age 35–84, N = 2,496) to document the long-term effects of parental divorce on the child's depressive affect and familial solidarity. Those who experienced parental divorce as a child (OR: 1.77, p < .05) or as an adult (OR: 1.82, p < .05) had a higher risk of depression compared to those whose parents are still married. Similar results were found for family solidarity, suggesting that parental divorce was …
Families in Later Life
Later-life families encompass the legal, biological, romantic, and kin-like relationships of persons ages 65 and older. Research on older families has flourished over the past decade, as population aging has intensified concerns regarding the capacities of families to care for older adults and the adequacy of public pension systems to provide an acceptable standard of living. Shifting patterns of family formation over the past half-century have c…
What is a cohort effect? Comparison of three statistical methods for modeling cohort effects in obesity prevalence in the United States, 1971-2006
Older Adults' Perceptions of Intergenerational Support After Widowhood
This study examines the ways that widowhood affects older adults' perceived exchange of support with their children, and whether exchange patterns differ by gender. Data are from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC), a prospective study of 1,532 married individuals age 65 years and older. Spousal loss increases older adults'dependence on their children 6 months after the loss yet decreases children's dependence on their surviving parents. P…
The Daily Consequences of Widowhood
This study examines (a) whether widowhood affects the performance of daily household activities, (b) the extent to which dependence on children mediates the effect of widowhood on subsequent housework performance, and (c) the extent to which these patterns vary by gender. Using the Changing Lives of Older Couples study, a prospective survey of married persons age 65 and older, we find that late-life widowhood is associated with an increase in men…
Feeling Lonely Versus Being Alone
There is conceptual and empirical overlap between the concepts of loneliness and social support, but results suggest that loneliness following widowhood cannot be remedied by interventions aimed only at increasing social support. Social support, especially that from friends, appears to be most effective if it is readily accessible and allows the newly bereaved an opportunity to express him/herself
Clarifying hierarchical age-period-cohort models
Friend and Family Contact and Support in Early Widowhood
These analyses support the voluntary and socializing functions of friendship and social support, bolstering individuals during stressful life transitions, advancing our understanding of the underexamined and particularly distinct functions of friendship in the early phases of spousal loss
Health profiles of spouse caregivers
Walking the Dog
Like mother, (not) like daughter
Doing” healthcare at end-of-life
Observing how healthcare providers deal with death and dying, in terms of " doing " identity, allows us to explore how they cope with patient end-of-life (EOL) and highlights how the professional identity breaks down while managing patient death and dying. We conducted a digital ethnography of a publicly-accessible online forum for healthcare professionals. Providers' personal experiences with patient death and dying were interpreted through inte…
Sex ratios and life tables
The male/female sex ratio (SR) and its age-specific patterns vary considerably across time and place. The SR generally begins male-biased at birth and becomes female-biased later in life, but this relationship should respond to historical trends and events. Temporal trends in SRs remain largely unstudied and formal demographic relationships are not well defined. We (1) define SRs in a life table framework, (2) estimate the age at which the number…
For Better or for Worse
Objective: To examine how changes in health are associated with marital quality over a 20-year period of midlife. Background: The health benefit associated with marriage (compared to non-marriage) is well established. Less work has explored how health and changes in a couple's health are associated with the marital relationship. Method: We used a sample of continuously married individuals who participated in three waves of the Midlife in the Unit…
Spousal Bereavement following Cancer Death
Loss due to cancer could predispose surviving spouses or partners to a variety of negative outcomes. Although a terminal prognosis may provide opportunities to prepare for the loss, existing evidence is inconclusive as to whether death expectedness buffers potentially negative bereavement outcomes. Using data from the Living After Loss study, we examined longitudinally outcomes of bereaved individuals whose spouses/partners died from cancer (n = …
Coping Processes Among Bereaved Spouses
The authors investigated if an intervention based on the dual process model (vs. traditional bereavement support) enhanced oscillation between loss- (LO) and restoration-oriented (RO) coping of recently bereaved (2-6 months) spouses/partners. Participants were followed over 12 months. The authors found an increased emphasis over time on RO coping, particularly for women and those who were younger; however, no treatment effect was detected. Althou…
The Globalization of Economic Production and International Migration
This article empirically investigates the relationship between the globalization of economic production and international migration by focusing on the case of Mexico. We describe undocumented Mexican migration to the US in the context of global economic restructuring and review previous studies. We then apply a multilevel modeling technique to retrospective data gathered by the Mexican Migration Project in order to test whether the density of man…
Thirty-six years of independence in Nigeria
This article presents the rationale for and description of a promising intervention, Time for Living and Caring (TLC), designed to enhance the effectiveness of respite services for family caregivers. It is guided by the theoretical principles of the Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) model, which individually coaches caregivers on how to assess their personal circumstances, identify their greatest needs and preferences, and engage in …
The Effect of Widowhood on Older Adults' Social Participation
PURPOSE: This study evaluated how levels of social participation change as a result of late-life widowhood. Social participation is a multidimensional construct incorporating both formal (e.g., meeting attendance, religious participation, and volunteer obligations) and informal (e.g., telephone contact and social interactions with friends) social roles. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples study, analyses compar…
The Daily Consequences of Widowhood
This study examines (a) whether widowhood affects the performance of daily household activities, (b) the extent to which dependence on children mediates the effect of widowhood on subsequent housework performance, and (c) the extent to which these patterns vary by gender. Using the Changing Lives of Older Couples study, a prospective survey of married persons age 65 and older, we find that late-life widowhood is associated with an increase in men…
Older Adults' Perceptions of Intergenerational Support After Widowhood
This study examines the ways that widowhood affects older adults' perceived exchange of support with their children, and whether exchange patterns differ by gender. Data are from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC), a prospective study of 1,532 married individuals age 65 years and older. Spousal loss increases older adults'dependence on their children 6 months after the loss yet decreases children's dependence on their surviving parents. P…
Humor, Laughter, and Happiness in the Daily Lives of Recently Bereaved Spouses
The positive psychology movement has created more interest in examining the potential value of experiencing positive emotions (e.g., humor, laughter, and happiness) during the course of bereavement. This study of 292 recently widowed (5-24 weeks) men (39%) and women (61%) age 50 and over examined both the perceived importance of and actual experience of having positive emotions in their daily lives and how they might impact bereavement adjustment…
The Globalization of Economic Production and International Migration
This article empirically investigates the relationship between the globalization of economic production and international migration by focusing on the case of Mexico. We describe undocumented Mexican migration to the US in the context of global economic restructuring and review previous studies. We then apply a multilevel modeling technique to retrospective data gathered by the Mexican Migration Project in order to test whether the density of man…
Experiences and Early Coping of Bereaved Spouses/Partners in an Intervention Based on the Dual Process Model (DPM)
This study was designed to test the effectiveness of the Dual Process Model (DPM) of coping with bereavement. The sample consisted of 298 recently widowed women (61%) and men age 50+ who participated in 14 weekly intervention sessions and also completed before (O1) and after (O2) self-administered questionnaires. While the study also includes two additional follow-up assessments (O3 and O4) that cover up to 14-16 months bereaved, this article exa…
Sampling, Recruitment, and Retention in a Bereavement Intervention Study
This article reports on the sampling and recruitment challenges, as well as the strategies used to address them in the Living After Loss (LAL) project, a bereavement intervention study conducted in Salt Lake City and San Francisco comparing two 14-week group conditions with follow-up. We encountered three major challenges: 1) difficulty determining eligibility for some potential participants who were contacted, 2) locating and recruiting nonwhite…
Like mother, (not) like daughter
A Tale of Two Counties
The “Living After Loss” study was designed to test the effectiveness of the dual process model (DPM) of coping with bereavement. In order to obtain a larger and more diverse sample we studied 328 recently widowed men and women (61%) age 50+ in two counties, Salt Lake (SL) ( n = 197) and San Francisco (SF) ( n = 131) in two states, Utah and California. This article does not report on the effects of the intervention but focuses on a comparison of t…
What is a cohort effect? Comparison of three statistical methods for modeling cohort effects in obesity prevalence in the United States, 1971-2006
Parental Divorce Among Young and Adult Children
This analysis uses a middle-aged sample (age 35–84, N = 2,496) to document the long-term effects of parental divorce on the child's depressive affect and familial solidarity. Those who experienced parental divorce as a child (OR: 1.77, p < .05) or as an adult (OR: 1.82, p < .05) had a higher risk of depression compared to those whose parents are still married. Similar results were found for family solidarity, suggesting that parental divorce was …
Depressive Symptoms Following the Diagnosis of Major Chronic Illness
Past research has shown that diagnosis with a major chronic illness tends to increase levels of depressive symptoms. However, little is known about how mental health following diagnosis differs across sex and racial-ethnic subgroups. To test how diagnosis with heart disease or cancer affected the expected number of depressive symptoms over time, we utilized panel data from a national sample of 12,271 older adults. Analyses explored subgroup varia…
Friend and Family Contact and Support in Early Widowhood
These analyses support the voluntary and socializing functions of friendship and social support, bolstering individuals during stressful life transitions, advancing our understanding of the underexamined and particularly distinct functions of friendship in the early phases of spousal loss
Feeling Lonely Versus Being Alone
There is conceptual and empirical overlap between the concepts of loneliness and social support, but results suggest that loneliness following widowhood cannot be remedied by interventions aimed only at increasing social support. Social support, especially that from friends, appears to be most effective if it is readily accessible and allows the newly bereaved an opportunity to express him/herself
Spousal Bereavement following Cancer Death
Loss due to cancer could predispose surviving spouses or partners to a variety of negative outcomes. Although a terminal prognosis may provide opportunities to prepare for the loss, existing evidence is inconclusive as to whether death expectedness buffers potentially negative bereavement outcomes. Using data from the Living After Loss study, we examined longitudinally outcomes of bereaved individuals whose spouses/partners died from cancer (n = …
Coping Processes Among Bereaved Spouses
The authors investigated if an intervention based on the dual process model (vs. traditional bereavement support) enhanced oscillation between loss- (LO) and restoration-oriented (RO) coping of recently bereaved (2-6 months) spouses/partners. Participants were followed over 12 months. The authors found an increased emphasis over time on RO coping, particularly for women and those who were younger; however, no treatment effect was detected. Althou…
Walking the Dog
One Size Doesn’t Fit All”— Partners in Hospice Care, an Individualized Approach to Bereavement Intervention
We concluded in a recent study that a "one size fits all" approach typical of group interventions often does not adequately accommodate the range of situations, life experiences, and current needs of participants. We describe how this limitation informed the design and implementation of an individually-delivered intervention format more specifically tailored to the unique needs of each bereaved person. The intervention comprises one of three inte…
Clarifying hierarchical age-period-cohort models
Cancer Caregivers’ Preparedness for Loss and Bereavement Outcomes
Past studies examining the relationship between preparedness for loss and bereavement outcomes among caregivers of spouses/partners with life-limiting illness did not adequately account for preloss caregiver attributes that could potentially confound the relationship. Using a sample of spouse/partner cancer caregivers ( N = 226), we examined how preloss caregiver attributes were associated with how prepared one felt for loss and their role in the…
Sex ratios and life tables
The male/female sex ratio (SR) and its age-specific patterns vary considerably across time and place. The SR generally begins male-biased at birth and becomes female-biased later in life, but this relationship should respond to historical trends and events. Temporal trends in SRs remain largely unstudied and formal demographic relationships are not well defined. We (1) define SRs in a life table framework, (2) estimate the age at which the number…
Hospitalization following eating disorder diagnosis
Eating Disorders (ED) are defined as abnormal eating behaviors, stemming from an obsession with food, body weight, or body shape. EDs affect 10 million men and 20 million women in the US, with an estimated 15% lifetime prevalence among women. An ED diagnosis is often accompanied with a host of adverse physical and mental health outcomes, including a heightened risk for suicidality. Given the complex comorbidities associated with EDs, treatment oc…
For Better or for Worse
Objective: To examine how changes in health are associated with marital quality over a 20-year period of midlife. Background: The health benefit associated with marriage (compared to non-marriage) is well established. Less work has explored how health and changes in a couple's health are associated with the marital relationship. Method: We used a sample of continuously married individuals who participated in three waves of the Midlife in the Unit…
Families in Later Life
Later-life families encompass the legal, biological, romantic, and kin-like relationships of persons ages 65 and older. Research on older families has flourished over the past decade, as population aging has intensified concerns regarding the capacities of families to care for older adults and the adequacy of public pension systems to provide an acceptable standard of living. Shifting patterns of family formation over the past half-century have c…
Psychology (27 obras) · Medicine (24 obras) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (18 obras) · Gerontology (16 obras) · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues (14 obras) · Sociology (13 obras) · Developmental psychology (11 obras) · Computer Science (10 obras) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (10 obras) · Psychiatry (10 obras)