A Short Screening Measure of Contextual Vulnerability for Financial Exploitation

Abstract Financial exploitation (FE) among older adults is an expensive personal and societal problem. Many professionals who work with older adults need fast and reliable measures to detect FE, including: APS workers, financial professionals, and healthcare providers. Very few standardized measures exist to assess an older adult’s risk for FE, and fewer still that do not require extensive training to administer. Lichtenberg et al. (in press) presented the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (FEVS), which assesses the context (i.e. financial, social, and psychological) in which an older adult is making a financial decision. This 17-item scale differentiates between older adults who’ve experienced FE and those who have not. It has excellent psychometric properties and clinical utility to detect FE beyond demographic and neuropsychological variables. We utilized exploratory factor analysis to examine the factor structure of the FEVS and reduce the number of items. Participant data (n=243) were drawn from two samples: a community-based sample and a group of individuals who were seeking financial coaching services following a financial scam or theft. Examination of the eigenvalues yielded a unidimensional scale. An iterative process was used to remove items that did not load on the single factor or with low corrected item total correlations. The final scale contained nine items and retained its ability to detect financial exploitation (AUC=0.778) and good internal consistency (a=0.845). This short form scale (FEVS-SF) is a brief, standardized screening measure to assess contextual vulnerability for FE that is accessible to professionals who work with older adults.


SOCIAL SUPPORT CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO RETIREMENT Brittany King, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Retirement is an influential life course transition, that has potential to impact overall well-being as well as our social lives. The extent to which our social lives are changed is dependent upon the resources available both pre-and post-retirement. Research on retirement has focused on how well-being is changed, through measures such as depression, and conceptualize social support as a resource that can help offset some of the associated negative consequences. However, it is unclear how that resource of social support is itself being impacted. This study uses 2008-2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data to assesses if how social support changes is dependent upon timing of retirement or whether the individual was forced to retire (N=1,933). Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and marginal effects are used to assess the change in support and to test if the effects differentially impact certain groups. Preliminary results from this study show that men who have been retired for two waves report a significant negative change (p<0.05) in their in-person interactions with children, whereas women who have been retired for the same amount of time report a significant positive change (p<0.01) in their interactions with children. Additionally, women who are forced to retire report a significant (p<0.05) increase in their in-person interactions with children. These findings suggest that factors such as timing of retirement and forced retirement are important factors in understanding how received social support changes. Rachel Best, and Patrick Hill, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States Sense of purpose is related to many positive physical and mental health outcomes (Boyle, Barnes, Buchman & Bennett, 2009). Unfortunately, sense of purpose declines as adults age and particularly with retirement (Pinquart, 2002). Retirement is often measured dichotomously, however, many people are retiring gradually and do not fit clearly as retired or not retired. Moreover, people retire for different reasons ranging from seemingly non-negative reasons (financial incentives or wanting to spend more time on non-work activities) to more negative reasons (physical health problems, mental health problems, cognitive decline, pressure to retire, or getting fired). The current study (N = 558; mean age = 60.17) used data from a Hawaiian sample in which participants completed self-report surveys on retirement status and activity engagement, as well as a measure of purpose (Scheier et al., 2006). We examined whether the role of retirement on sense of purpose differed by form of or motive for retirement. Results indicated the fully retired population reported significantly lower sense of purpose than both the still working and the partially retired populations, but these two groups did not differ. Participants who retired for negative reasons reported significantly lower sense of purpose than those who retired for non-negative reasons. Greater activity engagement was significantly related to sense of purpose for all retirement statuses. However, this relationship was stronger for the partially retired population. Future research should examine further the role of partial retirement for maintaining sense of purpose in older adulthood.

A SHORT SCREENING MEASURE OF CONTEXTUAL VULNERABILITY FOR FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION Rebecca Campbell, and Peter Lichtenberg, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Financial exploitation (FE) among older adults is an expensive personal and societal problem. Many professionals who work with older adults need fast and reliable measures to detect FE, including: APS workers, financial professionals, and healthcare providers. Very few standardized measures exist to assess an older adult's risk for FE, and fewer still that do not require extensive training to administer. Lichtenberg et al. (in press) presented the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (FEVS), which assesses the context (i.e. financial, social, and psychological) in which an older adult is making a financial decision. This 17-item scale differentiates between older adults who've experienced FE and those who have not. It has excellent psychometric properties and clinical utility to detect FE beyond demographic and neuropsychological variables. We utilized exploratory factor analysis to examine the factor structure of the FEVS and reduce the number of items. Participant data (n=243) were drawn from two samples: a community-based sample and a group of individuals who were seeking financial coaching services following a financial scam or theft. Examination of the eigenvalues yielded a unidimensional scale. An iterative process was used to remove items that did not load on the single factor or with low corrected item total correlations. The final scale contained nine items and retained its ability to detect financial exploitation (AUC=0.778) and good internal consistency (a=0.845). This short form scale (FEVS-SF) is a brief, standardized screening measure to assess contextual vulnerability for FE that is accessible to professionals who work with older adults.

ARE HOME CARE AIDES INTERESTED IN HELPING CLIENTS DO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY?
Naoko Muramatsu, Lijuan Yin, and Maria Caceres,

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
The current home care paradigm dictates home care aides (HCAs) provide prescribed help with activities of daily living, rather than stimulating older adults' reserves to maintain independence. Little is known about whether HCAs are interested in expanding their role to promote their clients' health. This study examined HCAs' interest in helping clients do physical activity among workers who care for their family members or clients assigned by home care agencies in a Medicaid-funded home care program. Data came from brief surveys completed by HCAs at state-mandated in-service training sessions (N=602; 42% caring for non-family clients only, 38% family clients only, 20% both family and non-family clients). Ordered logit analysis was conducted to examine whether HCAs caring for family clients differ from those caring for non-family clients in levels of interest in helping clients do safe physical activity as part of home care work, controlling for HCAs' age, gender, language (English/ Spanish), and years of home care experience. HCAs' interest levels were high (62% very, 21% somewhat, 8% slightly, 9% not at all interested). Ordered logit analysis indicated that HCAs caring for family members had significantly higher interest levels than those caring for non-family clients only (83% higher among HCAs caring for both family and nonfamily clients, 30% higher among HCAs caring for family clients only). To reflect HCAs' interests and to maintain clients' independence, home care workforce training should direct its attention to empower HCAs to assume healthpromoting roles.

CULTIVATING GENERATIVE CONNECTION THROUGH AGRICULTURAL LEADERSHIP Kyle Bower, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
Adult agricultural leadership programs (ALP) address the needs of a diversifying society with pressing social, economic, environmental, and political challenges. Additionally, these programs offer transformative learning experiences that lead to a greater capacity of current and prospective leaders to become change agents in their communities. Our aging society generates a novel opportunity to reframe experiences of professional succession and retirement within the agricultural sector. In a profession where vitality, strength, and perseverance are fundamental, the agricultural industry needs leaders who remain aware of the foundational knowledge contributed by their predecessors. At the same time, it also necessitates innovation that may revolutionize the farming industry for decades to come. In this mixed-method study, we asked participants of an ALP in the Southeastern region of the U.S. to complete the Loyola Generativity Scale (N=45). Survey results (N=45; 60% response rate) indicated average overall generative (40.3; 40-41 scale average) concern. However, there was a considerable variation among participants, scores ranging from 25-57 (scale range 20-55).
To understand the range of attitudes, we conducted interviews (N=10) to represent the distribution of scores by varying ages (M=38), gender, and educational background. Generativity Theory provided the foundation of our thematic qualitative analysis. We discuss the findings in terms of generative desire (motivational), beliefs (thoughts and plans), and actions (behaviors and applied meaning). Our quantitative and qualitative findings advance the conversation of the importance of maintaining social capital throughout one's career and identifying generative connections that assist with difficult transitions, such as retirement, in later life. Research supports the need for healthcare providers who are trained in providing care to older adults with dementia. However, few training options exist for Registered Dietitians (RDs) seeking dementia care training that is specific to nutrition. The purpose of this project was to adapt an existing dementia care training curriculum to meet the learning needs of RDs. The development team included two experts in dementia training and two RDs with expertise in gerontological nutrition. The new training module was based on the existing Positive Approach to Care™ (PAC) curriculum, which incorporates Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and the Adult Experiential Learning Cycle. The development team first identified learning objectives for content that would be relevant to RDs who work with persons living with dementia, and modified components of the existing PAC curriculum to meet these objectives. After a preliminary pilot, the 2-hour program was presented to 20 RDs using a combination of lecture presentation, experiential learning, and skill-building techniques. Participants were provided written materials to reinforce the concepts presented. Participants answered five dementia-specific questions before and after the training, and overall, the average percentage of correct answers improved following the training. Two weeks following the training, participants completed an open-ended survey to provide feedback on the training. Participants responded favorably to the mixed learning formats in the training. When asked to rank their preferred learning methods, participants indicated lecture-based learning and experiential learning as their top