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Nancy Karlin

Nancy Karlin

Professor

Psychological Sciences
Education and Behavioral Sciences

Contact Information

Phone
970-351-2717
Office
McKee Hall 16D
Mailing Address
University of Northern Colorado
Psychological Sciences
Campus Box 94
Greeley, CO 80639

Education

Ph.D. - Colorado State University

M.A. - Fort Hays State University

B.A. - Evangel University

Professional/Academic Experience

Nancy J. Karlin, Ph.D. is a professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. As an experimental social psychologist, she has specific interests in familial caregiving of Alzheimer’s disease patients and professional caregiving of the aging patient. For more than thirty-five years, she has conducted a program of research devoted to understanding both the familial caregiver and issues relating to care of the chronically ill. Recently she has collected data in Italy, South Africa, Botswana, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Tunisia, China, and the United States as part of an effort to develop a cross-national framework on perceptions of aging. Nancy also investigates service utilization habits of older adults in rural and frontier counties. She is the Convention Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, member of the Association of Psychological Sciences, and the Gerontological Society of America.  Her recent publications can be found in the The Gerontologist, International Psychology Bulletin, Ageing International, The International Journal of Aging in Society, New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, Sage Open, Journal of Loss and Trauma, Activities, Adaptation, and Aging, and other journals.

Other Experience

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Research/Areas of Interest

As a Professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado, I have specific interests in familial caregiving of Alzheimer's disease patients and professional caregiving of the aging patient. For more than thirty years, I have conducted a program of research devoted to understanding both the familial caregiver and issues relating to care of the chronically ill. One program of research considers how Hispanic families provide care to older family members who have ADRD. This research looks at the needs of Hispanic caregiver families that are not currently being met. Some of my interests with these groups involve understanding disparities in service use, the role of acculturation, spiritual relevance prior, during, and after the care process.

In the past few years, I have been actively involved in collecting data on the psychosocial factors and rhetorical resilience of natural disaster survivors. Data was collected from families and aging populations in L'Aquila, Italy who experienced the devastating earthquake of April 6, 2009.  This project followed up on prior pilot data gathered from survivors of Hurricane Katrina, U.S.A. of August 29, 2005 and earthquake survivors of Vina Vieja, Peru 2007 as well as community dwelling elders dealing with the aging process. I have worked very hard to conduct research that extends beyond the physical walls of UNC, thereby adhering to the University's vision for creating cross-cultural connections and diversified learning perspectives.

Since 2011, Dr. Joyce Weil and I have been collecting data outside the United States working to develop a cross-national framework on perceptions of aging. In 2011, data were collected from elders in Rome (N=27) with regard to perceptions of aging.  In 2012 Dr. Weil and I collected data from a U.S. sample (N=40) and in 2013 data were collected Thailand (N=59) and from elders in Botswana (N=25). Data collection was completed in January 2014 in South Africa (N=30) and Saudi Arabia (N=59). Additional data was collected during the summer of 2017 in Japan (N=23) and Tunisia (N=61). In 2018, data was obtained from a Chinese cohort (N=39) leading to a total of 363 participants. Please see the list of publications below.

During this same data collection period a needs assessment was completed with older adults residing in the eastern plains of Colorado and throughout western Nebraska. This project resulted in two articles.  One that compares the two cohorts with the other dedicated to the development and preliminary validation of the Older Adult Service Usage Assessment (OASUA).

Publications/Creative Works

Book Chapters (*indicates student)

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