Dale Lund, PhD

Professor Lund recently returned to the University of Utah as a research professor with the Department of Family & Consumer studies after serving for seven years as professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at California State University San Bernardino. He was previously on the faculty at the University of Utah (1980-2009) where he helped expand the Gerontology Center (located in the College of Nursing) and severed as the Center director for 15 years (1988-2002). Lund also has held faculty appointments at North Dakota State University and Valdosta State University in Georgia. He is nationally and internationally known for his research, publications, and presentations focused on the ways older adults adjust to major life transitions, particularly spousal bereavement-widowhood and family caregiving to persons with dementia. Presently his research tests theoretically-based interventions to enhance the participant’s mental and physical health outcomes. His work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Cancer Institute, Administration on Aging, Bureau of Health Professions, National Center for Nursing Research, and the national Alzheimer’s Association. He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters and is the editor of two books, Older Bereaved Spouses and Men Coping With Grief. He is the recipient of numerous teaching, community service, and research awards including the Outstanding Researcher Award by the international Association for Death Education and Counseling. Lund is a member of several national and international associations in sociology, aging and death studies including the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement. He has presented his work throughout the US and Norway, Netherlands, Canada and Mexico. Dr. Lund enjoys teaching classes on topics related to aging, social psychology, research, grant writing, and medical sociology.

Research Statement

The primary areas of my research and scholarship since 1980 have been focused on how older adults cope with difficult life transitions. First, working in interdisciplinary research teams at the U of U and with others nationally and internationally we have studied older adults as they adjust to widowhood and bereavement. These studies began with longitudinal investigations to describe the grieving-bereavement process and then moved more into testing different theoretically based intervention strategies to assist those who are experiencing the greatest difficulties. A second area of research has examined the difficulties that family caregivers experience when providing help to a loved with with dementia or other types of impairments. Similarly, we have worked in interdisciplinary teams to describe caregivers major problems and then moved toward more studies that test interventions and services to help them. We developed Video Respite as a resource to help family and professional caregivers and are now testing ways to make respite services more effective for family caregivers.

Selected Publications