Utilizing an Empathic Sensory Experience to Understand Age-Related Sensory and Functional Decline

Gray for a Day aims to educate by influencing participants to understand, experience, and develop skills regarding age-related sensory and functional challenges some adults might face through various simulations that reflect daily routines, simple tasks, and leisure or social activities. Educators across Kansas have collaborated with K-12 schools, Universities, trade schools, long-term care facilities, and other community organizations to provide this program. In Kansas, the program has reached over 4,500 individuals and shows promising impacts on awareness, behavior change, understanding, and supporting the aging-related sensory and functional challenges some older adults might face.

Objectives

1. To evaluate the effectiveness of the Gray for a Day program.2. To demonstrate the power of an aging simulation to develop empathy and support for older adults.3. To demonstrate the ease of implementing this or a similar, exercise into human development classroom settings.

The Effect of Integrated-Equine Assisted Therapy (IEAT) on Yazidi Adolescent Girl Well-Being

Yazidi adolescent girls have faced inconceivable trauma (UNHRC, 2016). Though culturally-competent mental health services are available for Yazidi adolescents, a multimodal, wrap-around approach is recommended (Reist, 2017; NCSTN, 2003). Integrated Equine-Assisted Therapy (IEAT) was developed as a non-western and culturally competent approach to improve overall wellbeing. However, there is a dearth on wellbeing from the Yazidi perspective. This initial study will explore the effect of the IEAT method on Yazidi adolescent girl wellbeing from their perspective and begin to build a knowledge base of its use in work with trauma survivors.

Objectives

To describe wellbeing according to the perspectives of Yazidi adolescent girls.To analyze the use of Integrated Equine-Assisted Therapy (IEAT) in work with Yazidi adolescent girls.To engage the audience in a discussion on an innovative therapeutic method to support refugee wellbeing.

Military Contexts, Coping Processes, and Well-Being: The Case of Military Members and Their Civilian Spouses

The current study assessed military members’ and their spouses’ (233 couples) connections with military community, coping with military life, and individual and family well-being (depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and family functioning). Theories invoked are Contextual Model of Family Stress and Social Organization Theory of Action and Change. Results from a structural equation model indicated that for military members and their civilian spouses, connections within the military community related to coping abilities, which were associated with individual and family well-being. Results were stronger for military members than civilian spouses. Results will be discussed with an emphasis on intervention/prevention and policy implications.

Objectives

To evaluate the role of military community contexts for the individual and family well-being of military members and their civilian spouses.
To analyze a theory-based model where spouses’ coping abilities are a mechanism linking elements of community context to individual and family well-being
To demonstrate how study findings translate into intervention and prevention programs and policies for military families.

Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Siblings’ Anxiety in Military Families

Rooted in the ABCX Model of Family Stress, we examined how interparental conflict was related to anxiety among adolescent siblings, mediated by the adolescents’ perceptions of that conflict. Participants were 116 families with an active duty military parent, civilian parent, and two adolescent children. Our structural equation model fit the data well and suggested that when civilian parents reported greater interparental conflict, adolescents reported greater interparental conflict, and this was related to higher adolescent anxiety for both siblings.  This pattern did not emerge for active duty parent reports. Leverage points for professionals are discussed (e.g., supporting the parental subsystem).

Objectives

Expand on existing research by examining how the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescent outcomes is mediated by adolescent perceptions of conflict, specifically in a military sample population.Utilize the ABCX model to understand stress, meaning, and outcomes for adolescents in military familiesExplore the implications of civilian parents playing a key role in adolescent outcomes in military families