Dr. Sunshine Rote

Associate Professor, Interim Director of Research

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Identifying the social, economic, and health challenges related to the care of a rapidly aging and ethnically diverse older adult population.

Dr. Rote’s research integrates the life course paradigm with psychosocial models to investigate the health of adults in mid- and late-life. Research on older adults examines racial/ ethnic disparities in health and well-being with a special emphasis on older Latinos. Dr. Rote is currently the PI on a grant funded by the National Institute on Aging (R03, 2018-2020, PI) that addresses “Dementia and Physical Disablement Processes among Aging Latinos.” Preliminary results highlight the importance of early life factors (education, occupation, and family size) for gendered pathways to dementia-related disablement in the Mexican- origin population.

Dr. Rote’s research on health in midlife focuses on the risk and protective factors of family caregivers to older adults, and documents racial/ethnic differences in caregiving intensity and well-being. Dr. Rote, along with Dr. Heehyul Moon, was recently awarded a seed grant from the Kent School of Social Work to examine sources of stress and resiliency for dementia caregivers throughout the state of Kentucky. Outcomes of the project include tailoring dementia care services and outreach to diverse caregivers in Kentucky and increasing dementia caregivers awareness of formal resources and self-care strategies.