CPHAR Fellows Biographical Information

Gracie Boswell

Gracie Boswell, Ph.D. completed her undergraduate studies at Virginia State University. Her post graduate studies were completed at Kent State University in Ohio where she received a M.Ed. in educational media and later an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Aging and Medical Sociology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 2003 Dr. Boswell accepted a post-doctoral fellowship at the UNC Institute on Aging. Her interests in aging research included studying the well-being of older adults who experienced chronic illness either as sufferers or as caregivers.  Her work has been guided by the holistic paradigm medical model and relevant social theories. She examined the roles of spirituality and religiosity along with lifestyle and socioeconomic determinants of quality of life. She has been particularly interested in research methodology for differentiating religiosity and spirituality constructs for use in social scientific research. This interest led to the publication of a well cited paper in 2010 using structural equation modeling to differentiate between religious and spiritual constructs.  Although most of her research was couched in quantitative methodology, she is also knowledgeable in the conduct of qualitative research.

Dr. Boswell is currently affiliated with the Institute on Aging as a fellow, where she is still mainly interested in factors that impact psychosocial well-being of chronically ill older adults. Influenced by her own experience as a cancer survivor, her research interest is now focused more specifically on the role of alternative therapies as support services for cancer survivors. Her methodological approach involves the use of mixed methods, both quantitative and qualitative approaches, in order to investigate the efficacy of support services for cancer survivors.

Her current goals are to advance her research agenda through consulting, publishing, and promoting the investigation of alternative support programs and methodologies.  A specific interest is to promote the use of life review to enhance the meaning and psychosocial well-being of cancer survivors.

Selected Publications

Boswell, G. H.& Boswell-Ford, K. (2010).Testing a SEM model of two religious concepts and experiential spirituality. Journal of Religion and Health, 49 (2), 200-211.

Dilworth-Anderson, P. A. & Boswell, G. H. (2005). Cultural diversity and aging: Ethnicity, minorities and subcultures. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Dilworth-Anderson, P. A., Boswell, G. H., & Cohen, M. (2007). Spiritual and religious coping values and beliefs among African American caregivers: A qualitative study. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 26 (4).

Boswell, G. H., Kahana, E., Dilworth-Anderson, P. A. (2006). Spirituality and Healthy lifestyle behaviors: Stress Counter-balancing effects on the well-being of older adults. Journal of Religion and Health, winter: 45 (4).

Boswell, G. H. (2003). The effects of stressors, lifestyle, religiosity, and spirituality on the well-being of elders. Dissertation Abstracts International, 64 (07), 2660A. (UMI No. 3097341).

International Conference Publication

Byrd, G. , Pericak-Vance, M., Edwards, C., Johnson, S., Boswell, G., Taylor, A., Caldwell, D., Williams, I. and Li. Y. Community Investment and Recruitment of African Americans for Alzheimer’s Genetic Research. Publications of Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (July 16-20, 2006), Madrid, Spain.

Conference Paper and Poster Presentations

Boswell, G.H. (2010).A Life Review Workshop.Presented at the North Carolina Governor’s Conference on Aging, Durham, NC.
Boswell, G. H. (2009). Assessment of the religious behaviors and spiritual experiences of chronically ill older adults. Poster presented at the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Boswell, G. H. (2008). The Religious Behaviors and Spiritual Experiences of Chronically Ill Older Adults. Poster presented at the 2nd Annual Aging Exchange Conference, Durham, NC.
Boswell, G. H. (2006). Religiosity and spiritual experiences among older adults. Poster presented at the Gerontological Society of America 59th Annual Conference, Dallas, Texas.
Boswell, G. H. (2005). Does religiosity promote spiritual experiences in a sample of older adults. Poster presented at the 2nd Annual Aging Exchange Conference, Durham, NC.
Boswell, G. H. (2004). Spirituality and lifestyle behaviors: Stress counter-balancing effects in the health maintenance of older adults. Paper presented at the Gerontological Society of America 57th Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Boswell, G. H. (2003). Understanding the effects of stressors, lifestyle, religiosity, and spirituality on the well-being of elders. Poster presented at the Gerontological Society of America 56th Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
Boswell, G. H. (2001). Holistic health behavior and the sick role in a multiracial sample of elders. Poster presented at the Gerontological Society of America 54th Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Boswell, G. H. (1998). Race-consciousness and Affirmative Action Debates. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
Boswell, G. H. (1997). The holistic paradigm and the sick role experience. Paper presented at the Ohio Network of Educational Consultants in the Field of Aging (ONECA), Toledo, OH.
Boswell, G. H. (1997). The assessment of spirituality in a holistic health model. Paper presented at Minority Pre-doctoral Leadership Development Workshop Pre- conference Workshop, Cincinnati, OH.
Kahana, E., Meehan, R. Smith, T., Boswell, G., Newell, K., Kahana, B., Kercher, K. & Clark, E. (1996).Gender and aging successfully. Paper presented by E. Kahana, Ph.D. at the Gerontological Society of America Conference, Washington, D.C.