About the Author

Dr. Elaine Eshbaugh is a professor of Gerontology and Family Studies and has coordinated UNI’s Gerontology program since 2007. She has a master’s and PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Iowa State University, and has been published in research journals such as the Journal of Poverty, Journal of Community Health Nursing, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, and the Journal of Community Psychology. Dr. Eshbaugh has more than 30 research publications in empirical journals. She teaches courses such as Research Methods, Family Relationships, Psychology of Aging, and Families, Alzheimer’s & Related Dementias. She has collaborated with various continuing care communities, adult day services, and hospices.

In her free time, she enjoys doing semi-adventurous things with her husband (Bill), running, documentaries, hanging out with dogs of all sizes, and students who bring cookies to her office.

11 thoughts on “About the Author”

  1. Good morning,

    My wife is living with Alzheimer’s, and I am her caregiver. We will both be 70 in the fall. She was diagnosed in 2017. She continues to live at home and is functioning reasonably well at this point. Her geriatrician added Memantine to her medication in February. It has made a difference in that it slowed the progression of her symptoms. Prior to that, she was declining rapidly. I discovered your blog one day as I was searching for information on the Internet. I have found your blog to be informative, helpful, and comforting. I most definitely would be interested in any Zoom sessions you might schedule. Like most people, my interests are driven by our own individual circumstances, so I would be particularly interested in how caregiving changes through the stages of the disease and how to adapt and secure help as those changes occur. That said, I would watch any session you make available. Thank you for everything you do in behalf of people who have dementia.

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  2. thanks for your article on ‘helpful tips from others which are not so helpful’! I have received many such tips and they can be annoying. My Mum has had Alzheimer’s for 4 years and is now in a nursing home. She has the emotional kind where she cries at the drop of a hat, which is very sad and hard to deal with. Cannabis is legal in Canada so we asked the doctor to prescribe Cannabis oil to see if it would make a difference. This does not contain THC so she does not get high. They give her a small dose each morning at 8:00 a.m and the difference has been quite astonishing. She is calm, often smiling and the other day actually started singing (not well mind you, but still). i think this should be explored for dementia patients as we are pleased with the results for Mum. It’s early days (10days now) so we shall see.

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    1. Yes. We have no real quality research on how CBD might be able to improve quality of life for people living with dementia. I used to be hesitant to state an opinion publicly on this, but at this point I’ve come around and will certainly say CBD is promising—but we need real research studies so we can recommend the optimal ways to use it for symptoms! Glad it’s helped your mum!

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  3. Thanks a lot for the article. I found it very informative. My husband had been diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia and is now in a nursing home. He had dramatic change in behaviour,difficulty swallowing and gets emotional easily. I feel so guilty of putting him in the home .

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  9. HI, Elizabeth. Thanks so much for the follow. I have just finished reading your Welcome. Thanks for that, too. What a brilliant experience for a child to grow up with those experiences. Having experienced time with my aunt and mother who had Alzheimer’s and dementia, I can understand your childhood perfectly. I’m glad you found such joy in it as that clearly helped you decide your future. I look forward to futrher visits to Dementialand.

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