Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Family caregivers on the job: moving beyond ADLs and IADLs
- Authors:
- LEVINE Carol, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Generations, 27(4), Winter 2003, pp.17-23.
- Publisher:
- American Society on Aging
Discusses 'activities of daily living' and 'instruments for activities of daily living' which were designed to describe the functioning - and functional limitations - of care recipients. Looks at how they fail to convey the full complexity of the family caregivers responsibilities.
Architecture with care
- Author:
- PALLISTER Marian
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Dementia Care, 11(4), July 2003,
- Publisher:
- Hawker
This article descibes how one architect applied a common sense approach to a hospital ward redesign.
Shower success
- Author:
- MCCREADIE Claudine
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 7(2), June 2003, pp.25-29.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Adaptations can make a huge difference to older people's decisions about remaining at home. Summarises the findings of research carried out at the Institute of Gerontology, Kings College London which looked at how different items help manage everyday tasks of life. The article focuses on older people's views of baths and showers.
Exploring assistance in Sweden and the United States
- Authors:
- SHEA Dennis, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 43(5), October 2003, pp.712-721.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Few international comparisons of health services are performed using microlevel data. Using such data, this paper compares the need for and receipt of assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) in comparable samples in the United States and Sweden, a country with a universal system of community-based services. Data from national surveys of community residents completed at approximately the same time in each nation are used to create comparable measures of need and assistance. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses compare need and assistance patterns across the nations and identify individual factors that explain receipt of assistance and unmet needs. Results indicate that a simple story of greater use of paid formal services in Sweden and more unpaid informal use in the United States masks a more complex relationship. Assistance with ADLs seems to be more targeted in Sweden; narrow differences in assistance widen considerably when the analysis is limited to those reporting need. Although these two different health systems result in similar levels of overall ADL assistance, a detailed microlevel comparison reveals key distinctions. Further microlevel comparisons of access, cost, and quality in cross-national data can further aid our understanding of the consequences of health policy.
Everyday living in later life
- Editor:
- BYTHEWAY Bill
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 66p.,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
There has been comparatively little research into the day-to-day lives of older people. Through in-depth interviewing researchers know a lot about what older people have to tell us, and through longitudinal research quite a lot about how lives change over the course of time. What gerontology is less well informed about is how the lives of older people are managed from day to day.
Correlates of everyday competence in Chinese older adults
- Author:
- CHOU K. L.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 7(4), July 2003, pp.308-315.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Whether older adults can maintain levels of adaptation that allow continuation of independent living is necessarily contingent upon the maintenance of levels of everyday competence. This study identifies factors correlated to everyday competence measured by a Chinese version of the Direct Assessment of Functional Abilities among Hong Kong Chinese elderly people. The respondents were 393 people aged 60 years or older from a cross-sectional study of a representative community sample of the elderly population in Hong Kong and they were interviewed in a face-to-face format. In multiple regression analyses, we found that self-rated health, sight, and global cognitive ability were positively associated with everyday competence whereas the presence of arthritis had a negative impact on the everyday competence. All these findings are consistent with previous Western studies.
A place to delight the senses and refresh the soul
- Author:
- COBLEY Martin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Dementia Care, 11(4), July 2003, pp.20-23.
- Publisher:
- Hawker
The author shares his findings and experience of the benefits gardens can bring for older people with dementia.
The dimensions of insight in people with dementia
- Authors:
- HOWORTH P., SAPER J.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 7(2), March 2003, pp.113-122.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study aims to characterize the factors determining the retention or loss of insight in dementia through: (i) a comparison of assessment procedures previously used to quantify loss of insight and (ii) a qualitative analysis of interviews with patients and carers. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with thirty-two people with dementia and their carers, which incorporated assessments via clinical interview, discrepancy ratings between patient and carer on an Activities of Daily Living scale, and prediction of performance on a memory task. The results of these were compared and supplemented with themes arising from qualitative analysis of the interviews. Significant differences were found between insight as measured by a prediction of performance paradigm and other methods of assessment. This may reflect a distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge. Analysis of interviews identified the following factors as contributing to people's awareness of their difficulties: (1) short-term frustration or distress; (2) continuous discontent; (3) lack of concern; (4) normalization of problems; (5) worry and anxiety; (6) defensiveness; (7) explicit denial; and (8) priority given to other problems. We conclude that insight in dementia is a complex, multi-dimensional, and value-laden concept. Emotional and behavioural aspects need to be considered as well as the cognitive, which is emphasized by traditional methods of assessment based on quantitative ratings. Implicit awareness may be accessible through subjects' predictions of performance on cognitive tasks and should be further investigated. An adequate account of insight in dementia should incorporate both objective and subjective measures in order to determine the interrelationships between organic changes, personality factors, and psychological mechanisms. A generally accepted, reliable protocol for the assessment of insight needs to be developed.
Homing in on housing: a study of housing decisions of people over 60
- Authors:
- CLOUGH Roger, et al
- Publisher:
- Eskrigge Social Research
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 58p.
- Place of publication:
- Lancaster
This report, arises from a three-year study of people’s housing pathways in later life. The emphasis is on the decision making process and the consequences of those decisions. At the heart of the project was a commitment to involving older people, as both consultants on the work of the team and, as researchers, conducting interviews with older people on their housing decisions. The report draws on the views of nearly 1,000 older people: interviewees, questionnaire respondents, members of panels, writers of ‘housing biographies’, and interviewers. The overwhelming response was that they want to have their voices heard. They want housing that is designed to help manage reduced mobility; that provides safety and security; and gives comfort and pleasure. They want space that is flexible enough to enable them to construct the diversity and fullness of their lives.
A new approach to the qualitative evaluation of functional disability in dementia
- Authors:
- KURZ X., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(11), November 2003, pp.1050-1055.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Dementia patients suffer from the progressive deterioration of cognitive and functional abilities. Instrumental disabilities usually appear in the earlier stages of the disease while basic disabilities appear in the more advanced stages. In order to differentiate between mild, moderate and severe patients both instrumental and basic functional disabilities should be taken into account simultaneously. The objective of this study was to find a new method for classifying dementia patients based on their disabilities by using a basic and an instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale. Functional disability was assessed in a Belgian cohort of dementia patients using the Katz and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales. A k-means derived clustering method allocated patients to disability clusters according to their Katz and Lawton scores. In order to validate the classification, we compared socio-demographic, clinical and costs parameters between the groups. The clustering method allocated patients between three clusters: dependent, non-dependent with instrumental functional disability (ND-IFD) and non-dependent. Dependence, as defined by these clusters, significantly correlates with age, residential setting, MMSE, patient's quality of life and costs. This new classification of patients suffering from dementia will provide better understanding of functional disabilities and will complement the evaluation of disease severity based on cognitive function.