News and Publications
Selected Recent Publications
Fuller, H. R., Huseth-Zosel, A., Van Vleet, B., & Carson, P. J. (2024). Barriers to vaccination among older adults: Demographic variation and links to vaccine acceptance. Aging and Health Research, 4(1), Article 100176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahr.2023.100176
Fuller, H. R., Huseth-Zosel, A., Van Vleet, B., Hadjar, M., & Carson, P. J. (2023). Vaccine attitudes and compliance among older adults in North Dakota: Understanding demographic characteristic variability. Vaccine, 41(42), 6350-6358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.09.005
Owino, J., & Fuller, H. R. (2023). Aging out-of-place: Perceptions of successful aging among aging Burundian refugees in the United States, The Gerontologist, 63(7), 1238-1247. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnad013
Van Vleet, B., Fuller, H.R., Hofmann, B., & Huseth-Zosel, A. (2022). Untapped insight: A longitudinal qualitative analysis of older adults’ advice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovation in Aging, 6(7), 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igac071
Fuller, H. R., Huseth-Zosel, A., Hofmann, B., Van Vleet, B., Kinkade, E. E., Carlson, S., & Sturn, E. (2022). Shifts in older adults’ social connections throughout the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gerontologist, 62(8), 1160-1172. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnac030
Fuller, H.R., & Huseth-Zosel, A. (2021) Older adults' loneliness in early COVID-19 social distancing: Implications of rurality. Journal of Gerontology - Social Sciences, 77(7), e100-e105. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab053.
Fuller, H.R., & Huseth-Zosel, A. (2021) Lessons in resilience: Initial coping among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gerontologist, 61(1), 114-125. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa170.
Fuller, H.R. (2020). Implications of relationships with family, friends, and neighbors for women’s well-being in late-life. The Journal of Women and Aging, 33(4), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2020.1847712.
Toyama, M., Fuller, H. R., & Owino, J. (2020) Longitudinal implications of social integration for age and gender differences in late-life physical functioning. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 94(2), 169-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415020980755.
Fuller, H.R., Ajrouch, K., & Antonucci, T.C. (2020). The convoy model and later-life family relationships. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 12(2), 126-146. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12376
Toyama, M., & Fuller, H. R. (2020). Longitudinal stress-buffering effects of social integration for late-life functional health. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 91(4), 501-519. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415019871196
Strommen, J., Fuller, H.R., Sanders, G. F., & Elliott, D. M. (2020). Challenges faced by family caregivers: Multiple perspectives on eldercare. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 39(4), 347-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/0733464818813466
Ajrouch, K. J., Fuller, H.R., Akiyama, H., & Antonucci, T. C. (2018). Convoys of social relations in cross-national context. The Gerontologist, 58(3), 488-499. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw204
In the News
Fuller awarded for excellence in mentoring
HDFS Professor Heather Fuller was recently awarded NDSU's Mentoring Excellence Award. A group of her students, including Emily Kinkade and Bryce Van Vleet, shown here, and Dr. Hektner nominated her for this recognition.
Dr. Fuller remarked, "Mentoring is one of, if not the most rewarding aspect of my job. It is truly a privilege to have the opportunity to mentor so many amazing students and help them achieve their goals and reach their full potential. I feel extremely lucky to learn from the unique experiences and talents of each of them, and I am honored and humbled to receive this award."
NDSU professor named gerontological society fellow
Heather Fuller, NDSU professor of human development and family science, recently was named a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.
“It is an amazing honor to be recognized by my peers as a GSA fellow, and I am humbled to be inducted into such a distinguished group of impactful gerontologists,” Fuller said. “I am grateful for the many people – mentors, colleagues, students, family and friends – who have supported, encouraged and inspired my dedication to the field of aging.”
Fellow status is peer recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology and represents the highest class of GSA membership. The distinction is given for diverse activities that include research, teaching, administration, public service and notable participation in the society.
NDSU professor earns faculty excellence award
Heather Fuller, NDSU associate professor of human development and family science, was awarded the Great Plains IDEA Faculty Excellence Award during a recent meeting of the group’s faculty and administrators.
“I feel truly honored to receive this award from GP IDEA,” Fuller said. “I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to collaborate with my gerontology colleagues to work together to train students from across the globe to be the next generation of professionals and scholars to will continue advancing the field of aging studies.”
The award recognizes a significant contribution of faculty in a Great Plains IDEA academic program. Award winners devote, time, energy and resources to enhancing the alliance academic community.
Award recipients develop creative courses and mentoring programs or make a significant impact on teaching in a Great Plains IDEA program.
Research: Older people resilient, but stressed by COVID-19 isolation
Dan Gunderson, Moorhead, Minn. November 25, 2020 10:00 a.m.
Back in March, as the pandemic forced people to isolate, two gerontologists at North Dakota State University wondered about the toll that potentially months of isolation might take on older adults.
They wanted to learn more about coping skills and the mental health of seniors. So they launched a study, recruiting 76 people between the ages of 70 and 97 who live in North Dakota and Minnesota.
"We asked them questions about their daily lives, their connections with family, friends, neighbors, how they were adapting, and how needing to stay at home and isolate, how that was changing their lives and affecting their well being," said NDSU associate professor Heather Fuller.
NDSU researchers studying how older adults are coping with social distancing during the pandemic
Written by: Ryan Johnson, Apr. 5, 2020
FARGO — For several years, Heather Fuller says she’s been concerned about the “epidemic of loneliness” people of all ages are reporting in increasing numbers.
“There’s a ton of research on this,” says Fuller, an associate professor with North Dakota State University's Human Development and Family Science Department. “We know the importance of having a good social support network at any age really.”
But a solid social network has become a challenge for everyone during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting social distancing recommendations and stay-at-home orders keeping people apart.
Finding ways to connect: Older adults may face increased social isolation during pandemic
Johanna Armstrong, Apr 1, 2020; Updated Apr 2, 2020
Many older adults rely on visits from neighbors or community-hosted events for socializing but the social distancing recommendations put in place to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has meant that a lot of those events have been canceled and people are staying home. This has left many of the community’s elderly feeling socially cut off.
The Fergus Falls YMCA, which hosts SilverSneakers, fitness classes designed for seniors, is closed through May 1. The Fergus Falls Senior Center is closed until further notice, as well. Stacey Vaughn, health and wellness director for the Fergus Falls YMCA, says, “It’s just going to have to be a period of time where people need to do the social distancing, we have to get through it to the other side, and then obviously when we pick things back up, everybody will be back together again. For this period of time, we just all have to do our part.”
Caring for the caregivers: ND study finds challenges in helping elderly stay at home
By Patrick Springer on Jan 22, 2017 (INFORUM)
WEST FARGO—Patricia Muldoon spent years taking care of her disabled husband. As his condition deteriorated with age, she quit her job to be a round-the-clock caregiver so he could stay at home.
She devoted the last 15 years of her husband's life—he died in July at age 77—to caring for the man who asked her four times to be his wife before she gave a heartfelt yes.
"All my life, I loved him to the moon and back," she said. "He was a lovely man."
But with little outside support, Muldoon sacrificed to care for her husband. She injured her back multiple times, and ultimately could no longer take care of him, requiring him to spend his last days in a nursing home...