Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
An Examination of the Disablement Process Among Older American Indians: The Native Elder Care Study
Marc B Schure1, R Turner Goins2
1Health Services Research and Development, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington. Mark.Schure@va.gov.
Purpose Of The Study:
Older American Indians disproportionately suffer from poorer physical and mental health and have greater disability compared to their racial and ethnic counterparts. The purpose of this study was to examine the disablement process among older American Indians.
Design And Methods:
Data analyzed were from the Native Elder Care Study, which included in-person interviews with 505 community-dwelling American Indians aged ≥55 years. We used structural equation modeling to examine the contributive direct and indirect effects of health, demographic, and psychosocial risk factors on disability.
Results:
Pathology had direct and indirect effects through social support and depressive symptoms on chronic pain intensity. Pathology also had direct and indirect effects on disability. Chronic pain intensity was a significant mediator between pathology and functional limitations. With contributive effects of older age and female sex, greater functional limitations were associated with increased disability.
Implications:
Our results support the theorized main pathway of the Disablement Process Model with our sample of older American Indians. Our findings support the importance of taking into account intra and extraindividual factors in assessing the prevalence and incidence of disability for older American Indians.
More Related Videos
06:52Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
06:55Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting Propensity Score using the Military Health System Data Repository and National Death Index
Published on: January 8, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients
Intellectual Disability
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption