Thesis Defense: Older Adults and Coping

I successfully defended my thesis last Friday. Although it was somewhat nervewracking, the meeting went really well. It felt more like a discussion than a presentation by the end and I got lots of good feedback and suggestions from my committee. The next step is to try to publish a journal article using the findings from the study.

The gist of the results is that problem- and emotion-focused coping appear to be adaptive, whereas dysfunctional coping appears to be somewhat less related to resilience to suicide. Implications of the study are that some coping strategies may serve as protective factors against suicide and coping strategies should be evaluated as part of a thorough assessment of at-risk older adults.

Thanks again to my committee for their guidance and to those who participated in the study.