Unraveling the Neurocognitive Effects of Caregiver Stress Recall: An fNIRS Investigation

Caregiving is a rewarding and strenuous activity that affects the physiological, psychological, and cognitive processes in the human body. While caregiving stress has been studied previously, these studies have overlooked a common symptom of experiencing stress: rumination. The present study explored how recalling stressful caregiving experiences affected caregiver stress levels and their performance on a test of executive function. Neural correlates underlying cognitive performance were also examined. The findings indicate that lifetime duration of caregiving activities, not recalling stressful experiences, is associated with poorer performance on the AX-CPT, though no changes in neural correlates were observed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Adult Learning and Human Resource Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Singer, Katelyn Jennifer

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Katz, Benjamin D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Davy, Kevin P.
• Sands, Laura P.
• Roberto, Karen A.

• Caregiving
• Executive Function
• fNIRS

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:41468

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/121132