Institute of Gerontology


Printer friendly page

Gail M. Williamson

Professor, Life-Span Developmental Psychology Program (Program Chair)
lgmw@uga.edu
http://www.uga.edu/psychology/faculty/gwilliamson.html
Room 240, Psychology Building
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
706.542.3069 (voice)
706.542.3275 (fax)



Research Interests

I am a Social/Health Psychologist. My interests are in identifying psychosocial factors that predict adjustment of patients and their families to chronic and/or serious illness, with particular focus on helping and caregiving, emotions, interpersonal relationships, and physical health. I have studied adjustment in diverse subpopulations with various illness conditions, ranging from children with chronically painful conditions to medically compromised elderly patients. An ongoing program of research investigates processes underlying the effects that providing help/care to frail elderly persons has on providers’ well-being and the quality of care they actually provide.

Honors and Awards

Grants

Williamson, G.M. (Principal Investigator), Miller, L.S., Lance, C.E., Schulz, R., & Weiner, M. Caregiver mental health impairment: Impact on elder care. National Institute on Aging. (Total costs = $1,616,300), funded for September 30, 1997 to July 31, 2002.

Williamson, G. M. (Principal Investigator), Dooley, W. K., Kosberg, J., Lance, C. E., Nelson-Gardell, D. M., Miller, L. S., Schulz, R., Scoggin, F., & Shaffer, D. R. Quality of informal care and caregiving transitions. National Institute on Aging. (Total costs = $2,695,421), funded for August 1, 2002 to July 31, 2008.


Selected Publications

Dooley, W. K., Shaffer, D. R., & Williamson, G. M. (in press). Informal care can be better than adequate: Development and evaluation of the Exemplary Care Scale. Rehabilitation Psychology.

Chisholm, M. A., Williamson, G. M., Lance, C. E., & Mulloy, L. L. (2007). Predicting adherence to immunosuppressant therapy: A prospective analysis of the theory of planned behaviour. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 22, 2339-2348.

Shaffer, D. R., Dooley, W. K., & Williamson, G. M. (2007). Endorsement of proactively aggressive caregiving strategies moderates the relation between caregiver mental health and potentially harmful caregiving behavior. Psychology and Aging, 22, 494-504.

Loucks-Atkinson, A., Kleiber, D. A., & Williamson, G. M. (2006). Activity restriction and well-being in middle-aged and older caregivers. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, 22, 269-282.

Shaffer, D. R., & Williamson, G. M. (2006). Shall we select selective investment theory? A viewpoint from the informal care arena. Psychological Inquiry, 17, 51-55.

Miller, L. S., Lewis, M. S., Williamson, G. M., Lance, C. E., Dooley, W. K., Schulz, R., & Weiner, M. F. (2006). Caregiver cognitive status and potentially harmful caregiver behavior. Aging and Mental Health, 10, 125-133.

Chisholm, M. A., Lance, C. E., & Williamson, G. M. (2005). Development and validation of an immunosuppressant therapy adherence instrument. Patient Education and Counseling, 59, 13-20.

Williamson, G. M., Martin-Cook, K., Weiner, M. F., Svetlik, D. A., Saine, K., Hynan, L. S., Dooley, W. K., & Schulz, R. (2005). Caregiver resentment: Explaining why care recipients exhibit problem behavior. Rehabilitation Psychology, 50, 215-223. ** Harold Yuker Award for Research Excellence (most highly rated paper published in Rehabilitation Psychology in 2005-2006)**

Svetlik, D., Dooley, W. K., Weiner, M. F., Williamson, G. M., & Walters, A. S. (2005). Declines in satisfaction with physical intimacy predict caregiver perceptions of overall relationship loss: A study of elderly caregiving spousal dyads. Journal of Sexuality and Disability, 23, 65-79.

Beach, S. R., Schulz, R., Williamson, G. M., Miller, L. S., Weiner, M. F., & Lance, C. E. (2005). Risk factors for potentially harmful informal caregiver behavior. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53, 255-261.

Peck, S. R., Shaffer, D. R., & Williamson, G. M. (2004). Sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction in dating couples: The contributions of relationship communality and favorability of sexual exchanges. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 16, 17-37.