Sophie Koestner

/in , , , , /by

Sophie Koestner is originally from Montreal, Canada, and moved to the US to complete her bachelor’s in Social Work at Loyola University Chicago. For the past three years, she has been assisting with projects on neurodiversity and aging, and LGBTQ+ migrants. She has presented at conferences on older adults’ experiences of autonomy as conveyed by their food environments. For the past year, she has also been working with Dr. Lené Levy-Storms on a grant proposal looking at intergenerational social network interventions to combat social isolation and loneliness. Sophie developed an interest in working with older adults after getting a summer job in the creative therapy and recreation department at a skilled nursing facility. The strong relationships she built with residents and their families, the stories she heard, and the impact she observed care providers having on residents’ lives sparked her interest in the field of gerontology. Sophie’s BSW internship was at the Marjorie Kovler Center, where she also became involved with a research project on the benefits of complementary therapies for survivors of torture. At the Kovler Center, she developed an interest in strengths-based, culturally sensitive, and trauma-informed approaches to serving those affected by torture and forced migration.

James Lubben

/in , , , , , /by

James Lubben is Professor Emeritus at UCLA where he taught for 20 years and was Associate Dean and Department Chair. He is also Professor Emeritus at Boston College where he was the Louise McMahon Ahearn Endowed Professor in Social Work for 15 years. During his 35 years in the academy, Dr. Lubben mentored over 200 doctoral students and junior faculty. He served on over 50 doctoral dissertation committees and secured dissertation research funding for over 150 doctoral students. He has published over 125 peer reviewed articles and chapters and edited 7 books. He has been a principal investigator or collaborator on over $35 million (direct costs) of research and training grants.

The primary aim of his research examines social isolation as a behavioral health risk among older populations. To carry out this research, he developed the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), an abbreviated measure designed for both research and clinical use among older populations. The LSNS has been translated into many languages and employed in studies throughout the world. Scores on the LSNS have been associated with a wide array of health indicators including mortality, morbidity, psychological distress and loneliness, cognitive impairment, and health care use.

Dr. Lubben served many years as a consultant to the World Health Organization regarding health and welfare systems development for aging societies.  He also served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist to Chile. Dr. Lubben served four terms (12 years) on the congressionally mandated Gerontology and Geriatrics Advisory Committee for the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He was elected to three different national boards for social work education: Society for Social Work and Research, Council on Social Work Education, and the Group to Advance Doctoral Education. He also served two terms (6 years) on the Executive Committee for the Grand Challenges in Social Work Initiative sponsored by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. Dr. Lubben is a Fellow in the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and also a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

Selected Publications

Chi, I., Chappell, N. L., & Lubben, J.   (2001). Elderly Chinese in Pacific Rim Countries – Social Support and Integration.  Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Lubben, JE, Blozik, E, Gillmann, G, Iliffe, S, Kruse, WR, Beck, JC, Stuck, AE. (2006). Performance of an Abbreviated Version of the Lubben Social Network Scale among Three European Community-Dwelling Older Adult Populations. The Gerontologist, 46(4):503–513.

Crooks, VC, Lubben, JE, Petti, DB, Little, D & Chiu, V. (2008). Social Network, Cognitive Function and Dementia Incidence in Elderly Women. American Journal of Public Health. 98:1221-1227.  PMCID: PMC2424087

Lubben, JE. (2009). Cultivating a New Generation of Scholars: The Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program.  In NR Hooyman (Ed.), Transforming Social Work Education: The First Decade of the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative. (pp. 79-97). Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education Press.

Sabbath, EL, Lubben, JE, Goldberg, M, Berkman, LF (2015). Social engagement across the retirement transition among young-old adults in the French GAZEL cohort. European Journal of Ageing 12(4): 311-320.  PMCID: PMC5549155

Lubben, J. (2017).  Addressing social isolation as a potent killer! Public Policy & Aging Report. 27(4):136-138.

Fong, R., Lubben, J. & R. Barth, R.P. (Eds.). (2018). Grand Challenges for social work and society: Social progress powered by science. New York and Washington, DC: Oxford University Press.

Vilar-Compte, M; Vargas-Bustamante, A & Lubben, J. (2018). Validation study of the abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scale Spanish translation among Mexican and Mexican-American older adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 33:83-99.

Lachman, M. E., Lipsitz, L., Lubben, J., Castaneda-Sceppa, C., & Jette, A. M. (2018). When Adults Don’t Exercise: Behavioral Strategies to Increase Physical Activity in Sedentary Middle-Aged and Older Adults. Innovation in Aging, 2(1), gy007. http://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igy007. PMCID: PMC6037047