Non-Fiction Writings...

MLA Citation:  Gibson, Gloria. "Social Support Satisfaction & Physical Health Perceptions Among Older Dementia Caregivers" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta Hilton Hotel, Atlanta, GA, Aug 16, 2003 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p107346_index.html> APA Citation:  Gibson, G. , 2003-08-16 "Social Support Satisfaction & Physical Health Perceptions Among Older Dementia Caregivers" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta Hilton Hotel, Atlanta, GAOnline <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p107346_index.html Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: Despite a growing literature demonstrating the significance of social support for health and well being, little is known about how older caregivers evaluate the assistance they receive from adult children. This paper presents data on the primary and secondary caregivers of older adults diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The findings reveal that spousal caregivers are rarely secondary caregivers and that they are generally not satisfied with the amount of help given by adult children. Spouses who reported satisfaction with back-up or next-in-line assistance were more likely to rate their physical health as good or excellent. Variations in social support satisfaction were linked to the physical health perceptions of older adults by age, gender, and education. The focus on caregiving networks, rather than social networks, is an important change. It has policy implications for the developers of intergenerational interventions for long-term caregivers. Surprisingly, older adults' perceptions about the quality of help they receive is rarely explored in literatures involving family studies, caregiving, or intergenerational exchanges. Such a finding is ironic since social support is traditionally treated as an important coping resource for reducing caregiving stress. Other Academic References to Dr. Gibson's Research

Shaping a true German identity: Narratives in Hermann, Missouri, 1837--1857

by Lammers, Matthew T., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI - COLUMBIA, 2008, 179 pages; 3371074

Abstract: Often in social historical research immigrants are presented in a monolithic fashion that suggests all persons sharing an ethnicity, heritage, or language act in similar ways in response to social situations and to the forces of assimilation. With the Colony at Hermann, Missouri being established as a true German community, there is the implication that there was some "true" identity that could be captured and reproduced. I argue that that the identity embraced by the German immigrants in that region was the result of a complex intersection of narratives that helped the immigrants locate themselves within their new homeland. This position is a direct challenge to conceptions that there are some innate and immutable characteristics that come to shape identity. Drawing upon the conception of narrative identity as put forth by Margaret Somers (1998, 1994) and Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson (1998) I utilize historical data from the early years of Hermann, Missouri to outline the narratives that were instrumental in shaping a German identity.		Advisor: Neitz, Mary Jo School: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI - COLUMBIA Source: DAI-A 70/08, p. , Feb 2010 Source Type: Ph.D. Subjects: Social psychology; Ethnic studies Publication Number: 3371074
"Shifting Borders" - a Case Study of Identity Discourse in a European Border Region (Abridged).  Brigitte Hipfl / Professor,  Dept. of  Media and Communication Studies, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria  The central goal of the project is to get to know more about the ways in which the people living in the border areas construct their cultural identity and their relationship to the other on the other side of the border. This specific project will offer insights into the role of the enormous political changes which took place in the area of what is now the European Union’s (South-) Eastern border for the identity formations of the people who live there. Theoretical Background and Method         Identity is understood in this project from the perspective of discourse-theory  and narrative theory. That is, identity is seen as something that is produced historically, socially and culturally. In discourse theory language is given a central role since it is through discursive systems of meaning – which serve specific interests, are often contradictory, and are forms of social power  -  that we grasp reality.         In the theory of narrative  (as described by Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson, 1994 58 f.) narrative and narrativity are being seen as concepts of social epistemology and social ontology. The basic idea is “that it is through narrativity that we come to know, understand, and make sense of the social world, and it is through narratives and narrativity that we constitute our social identities.” (Somers/Gibson 1994, 58-59). It is by locating ourselves (usually unconsciously, “ontological narratives”) in social narratives which are usually not of our own making (“public narratives” which range from the narratives of one' s family, working organizations, church, government, nation), that we make sense of ourselves and thus have a certain agency. It is through narratives that the self is being constituted - narratives are not seen as a reflective action of an already constituted individual.         A way to come to an understanding of identity formations then is to analyse these “ontological narratives”, which are inevitably embedded in time and space by looking (as in discourse analysis) which and how certain parts are being connected, if there are traces of “public narratives”, how social forces might have played a role etc.