Contact

  • Academic
    avalak@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: Mechanical Engineering Position: Graduate

All Publications

  • Comparing optimized exoskeleton assistance of the hip, knee, and ankle in single and multi-joint configurations Wearable Technologies Franks, P. W., Bryan, G. M., Martin, R. M., Reyes, R., Lakmazaheri, A. C., Collins, S. H. 2021; 2

    View details for DOI 10.1017/wtc.2021.14

  • Identity integration in people with acquired disabilities: A qualitative study JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY Adler, J. M., Lakmazaheri, A., O'Brien, E., Palmer, A., Reid, M., Tawes, E. 2021; 89 (1): 84-112

    Abstract

    This qualitative investigation focused on identity integration in a sample of individuals who acquired physical disabilities in adulthood. It also argues for the importance and ethics of these methods in the broader field of scholarship on personality change following adversity.Thirteen adults participated in the study. Participants engaged in an expanded Life Story Interview wherein they narrated the story of their life, including a section devoted to their story of acquiring a physical disability. In addition, participants completed questionnaires concerning their psychological well-being and maturity.We identified two dimensions of narrative themes participants used in grappling with identity integration: one represented active processing of one's life experiences and the other represented the extent to which participants described their identity as wholly transformed by the experience of acquiring a disability. When overlaid, these dimensions yielded four narrative strategies titled: Adapters, Wanderers, Drifters, and Resisters. We also observed that Adapters seemed to have better psychological well-being and maturity than the other groups.This study offers a foundation for future scholarship on identity among people with disabilities. It also describes the contexts in which retrospective, qualitative methods are especially appropriate for research on personality change following adversity.

    View details for DOI 10.1111/jopy.12533

    View details for Web of Science ID 000505616400001

    View details for PubMedID 31837271

  • Stress resilience: Narrative identity may buffer the longitudinal effects of chronic caregiving stress on mental health and telomere shortening BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND IMMUNITY Mason, A. E., Adler, J. M., Puterman, E., Lakmazaheri, A., Brucker, M., Aschbacher, K., Epel, E. S. 2019; 77: 101-109

    Abstract

    Chronic caregiving stress may accelerate biological aging; however, the ability to integrate the meaning of caregiving through self-awareness, adaptation, and growth can buffer the negative effects of stress. Narrative researchers have shown that people who coherently integrate difficult experiences into their life story tend to have better mental health, but no prior study has examined the prospective association between narrative identity and biological indicators, such as telomere length. We tested whether narrative identity might be prospectively associated with resilience to long-term parenting stress, depressive symptoms, and protection from telomere shortening, especially among caregivers.We conducted a semi-structured interview about parenting and quantified narrative themes by applying well-validated, standardized coding systems with high inter-rater reliability among 88 mothers: 32 "caregivers" (mothers with a child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder), and 56 "controls" (mothers with a neurotypical child). To assess longitudinal changes, we measured mental health (parenting stress [PS], depressive symptoms [DS]) and leukocyte telomere length [LTL], a biomarker of aging, at baseline and again 18 months later. We examined whether narrative identity themes were related to these outcomes and whether associations differed across caregivers versus controls.Caregivers exhibited significantly higher basal levels of PS and DS relative to controls (all p's < .05), but no significant difference in LTL (p > .05). Caregivers rated higher in the narrative theme of integration showed healthier future 18-month trajectories in PS (B = -0.832, 99% CI: [-1.315, -0.155], p < .01) and LTL (B = 1.193, 99% CI: [0.526, 2.130], p < .01), but no differences in depressive symptoms (p > .05), adjusting for age and antidepressant use. Analyses examining affective themes in caregiver narratives did not demonstrate significant associations. Narrative themes did not predict outcomes in controls.The data suggest that narratives reflecting coherent integration, but not necessarily affect, prospectively relate to psychological and biological stress resilience. Maternal caregivers' ability to tell an integrated story of their parenting experiences forecasts lower parenting stress and telomere shortening over time. This study suggests the possibility that helping individuals better integrate the meaning of stressful experiences, but not necessarily to affectively redeem them, may constitute a potential novel target for intervention among chronically stressed populations such as caregivers.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.12.010

    View details for Web of Science ID 000461412600013

    View details for PubMedID 30579939

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6399055