Rebecca L. Utz

Rebecca L. Utz, PhD, MS, MA

Research Interests

  • Urinalysis

Professor Utz completed her PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan in 2004. Before that, she completed a Master degree in gerontology (long term care administration) from Miami University, and worked as an applied research associate in Washington DC. She has been a faculty member at the University of Utah since 2004. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and has an adjunct appointment in the College of Nusing. She also serves as Director of the 'Health Society & Policy' program (an interdisciplinary undergradaute degree), Co-Director of the Consortium for Families & Health Research, and senior faculty associate for the "Family Caregiving Collaborative."

In the classroom, she teaches both undergraduate and graduate students how to be better consumers and producers of researchers (research methods). She also teaches courses related to epidemiology, population studies, and families & health. She has mentored countless students, and takes great pride in providing hands-on advising so students can learn to be independent researchers.

Current research interests center around her broad interdisciplinary interests in the health and aging of the American population. She is most interested in how families manage end-of-life and chronic disease care transitions. This includes work in the areas of both bereavement/widowhood and family caregiving. Her current research interests are focused on the development and testing of a self-administered, online intervention for caregivers to persons with Alzheimer's Disease & Related Dementia aimed at maximizing the benefit of respite time use.

She enjoys living in Utah, with her husband and two daughters.

Research Statement

I am a life course sociologist, embracing the interdisciplinary traditions of demography and gerontology. My substantive research focuses on issues of health and aging in America. More specifically, I am interested in how families cope with the end-of-life experience, including widowhood and caregiving. I am also interested in how families manage chronic conditions and familial health risks of their family, with a particular interest in caregivers to persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias. My work has involved primary data collection (surveys & qualitative interviews), creation and implementation of intervention studies, and statistical analysis of large population-based data sets.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Rebecca Utz (03/2022). Caregiver burden among diverse caregivers. Cancer.
  2. Rebecca Utz (01/2022). caregiver Respite: An Essential Component of Home and Community Based Care.
  3. kara dassel (12/2021). A limited opportunity: COVID-19 and promotion of advance care planning. 2(1), 194-198.
  4. Rebecca Utz (11/2021). Online Caregiver Interventions: Use of Communuity-Engaged Research Practices. J Prev Interv Community, 1-16.
  5. djin tay (10/2021). Evaluation of Family Characteristics and Multiple Hospitalizations at End of Life: Evidence from Utah Population Database. J Palliat Med.
  6. Amber Thompson (10/2021). Doing healthcare at end of life: Identity tensions, negotiations, conflicts. Death Stud.
  7. Alycia Bristol (09/2021). You Feel Very Isolated: Effects of COVID-19 on Caregiver Social Connections. Gerontol Geriatr Med.
  8. Margaret Clayton (04/2021). Live Discharge from Hospice: Perspectives from Families, Patients and Providers. Patient Educ Couns.
  9. Carr D Utz RL (02/01/2021). Families in Later Life: A Decade in Review. J Marriage Fam, 82, 346-363. (Read full article)
  10. Miller LM Utz RL Supiano K Lund D Caserta MS (02/01/2021). Health profiles of spouse caregivers: The role of active coping and the risk for developing prolonged grief symptoms. 266, 113455. (Read full article)
  11. Tracy EL Utz RL (01/01/2021). For Better or for Worse: Health and Marital Quality during Midlife. J Aging Health, 32, 1625-1635. (Read full article)
  12. Eunjin Tracy (01/2021). For better or worse: Marital quality and health among midlife married couples. J Aging Health.
  13. Tabler J Utz RL (10/01/2020). Hospitalization following eating disorder diagnosis: The buffering effect of marriage and childbearing events. SSM Popul Health, 12, 100672. (Read full article)
  14. Jenna Alley (09/2020). Illness, Social Disadvantage, and Risky Sexual Behavior in Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood. Arch Sex Behav.
  15. Tabler J Schmitz RM Geist C Utz RL Smith KR (11/01/2019). Reproductive Outcomes Among Women with Eating Disorders or Disordered Eating Behavior: Does Methodological Approach Shape Research Findings? J Womens Health (Larchmt), 27(11), 1389-1399. (Read full article)
  16. Hollingshaus Michael (08/2019). Sex ratios and life tables : Historical demography of the age at which women outnumber men in seven countries, 1850-2016.
  17. Dassel Kara (08/2019). Development of a Dementia-Focused End-of-Life Planning Tool: The LEAD Guide (Life-Planning in Early Alzheimer’s and Dementia. 3.
  18. Reblin M (06/2019). Communication of emotion in home hospice cancer care: Implications for spouse caregiver depression into bereavement. Psychooncology, 28, 247-258.
  19. Supiano Katherine (02/2019). A Comparison of the Influence of Anticipated Death Trajectory and Personal Values on End of Life Care Preferences: A Qualitative Analysis. Clin Gerontol, 42(3), 247-258.
  20. Caserta M (01/2019). Cancer caregivers' preparedness for loss: Do preloss caregiver characteristics Matter? Death Stud, 80(2), 224-244.
  21. Supiano K (09/2017). A comparison of the influence of Anticipated Death Trajectory and Personal Values on End of LIfe Care Preferences and Values. Clin Gerontol.
  22. REBECCA L UTZ (12/23/2016).
  23. Caserta M (09/15/2016).
  24. Tom Quinn (12/2015).
  25. REBECCA L UTZ (11/2015).
  26. Jennifer Tabler (10/2015).
  27. REBECCA L UTZ (08/2015).
  28. Lund Dale (08/2014).
  29. Caserta Michael (07/2014).
  30. Utz (02/2014).
  31. Utz Rebecca (02/2014).
  32. deVries Brian (02/2014).
  33. M Caserta (02/2014).
  34. Robinson W (08/2013).
  35. Caserta M (04/2013).
  36. Utz Rebecca (04/2013).
  37. Utz Rebecca (04/2013).
  38. Robinson (03/2013).
  39. Hollingshaus (02/2013).
  40. Utz R (10/2012).
  41. Utz (10/2012).
  42. Caserta (06/2012).
  43. Uphold (01/2012).
  44. Coffield (10/2011).
  45. Utz (08/22/2011).
  46. Utz (08/2011).
  47. Utz (04/2011).
  48. (09/2010).
  49. (06/2010).
  50. Lund (06/2010).
  51. (05/2010).
  52. (04/2010).

Edited Book

  1. Utz R (Ed.) (04/2015).
  2. Utz R L (Ed.) (06/2013).
  3. uTZ (Ed.) (07/2011).

Book Chapter

  1. Cindy Berg (05/2021). Family Caregiving Across the Life Span. In Handbook of Psychology and Aging, 9th Edition. Handbook of Psychology and Aging, 9th Edition.
  2. Caserta Michael (12/06/2016).

Other

  1. Rebecca Utz (12/06/2016).