Purpose: Evidence suggests that physical activity and healthy diets may help to maintain cognitive function, reducing risks of developing Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Using a cross-cultural focus, we describe older adults' awareness about cognitive health, and their ideas about how to inform and motivate others to engage in…

Purpose: The study aim was to develop a measure of self-reported quality of life (QoL) for people with mild to moderate dementia based on their views--the Bath Assessment of Subjective Quality of Life in Dementia (BASQID). Design and Methods: We developed the measure through multiple stages. Two field tests of the measure (ns = 60 and 150)…

Purpose: We adopted a feminist, structural approach to husbands' experiences of caring for wives with Alzheimer's disease. This framework posited that men and women draw upon gender repertoires--situational ideals of behavior based upon their respective structural locations--that create gendered experiences of stress and coping strategies. Design…

This study examined the impact of various degenerative dementias on access to semantic knowledge and the status of semantic representations. Patients with semantic dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer's disease were compared with elderly controls on tasks of category and letter fluency, with number of words generated, mean lexical…

In a study of the discourse of 100 people with Alzheimer's disease treated for 12 months with donepezil, we observed that, as a group, they used a form of tag, described here as a self-referential tag (SRT), 14 times more frequently than did caregivers. Patients use SRTs to check propositions dependent on episodic memory as in I haven't seen the…

A role-play exercise about Alzheimer's disease was designed to teach group work with memory-impaired elders. Written comments from 26 social work students revealed four outcomes: demystifying practical knowledge, respect for diversity among memory-impaired individuals, increased awareness of elders' internal states, and awareness of the challenges…

Collected weekly ratings of events and appraisals from 19 caregivers of demented patients and 19 control subjects over 4 weeks. Caregivers reported more negative events overall and rated them as more undesirable than did controls, but significant differences were found in events of only 2 of 11 life areas measured. (Author/NB)

Studied frequency, nature, context, and caregivers' reactions to aggressive behavior in 213 demented patients. Found aggression in 57.2 percent of patients and 10.6 percent of caregivers. Predictors of patient aggression were greater frequency of behavior and memory problems, premorbid aggression, and more troubled premorbid social relationship…

Compared Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) scores and activities of daily living (ADL) scores from 59 patients with progressive dementias. MMSE scores explained approximately one-third of variance in both instrumental and physical ADLs. Findings suggest that cognitive losses and functional impairments are 2 distinct aspects of dementia severity which…

Examined consequences of institutionalization for 555 caregivers of dementia patients. Consistent with stress process model, institutionalization was hypothesized to have large impact on primary effects of caregiving and lesser influence on secondary effects and well-being. Following placement, caregivers experienced relief from primary effects of…

Studied 82 family caregivers to identify positive and negative factors associated with caregiving. Instruments included two new scales designed to measure perceived positive and negative events in previous month. For new scales, only items significantly correlated with depressive symptomatology were retained. Findings suggest scales may be useful…

As part of 5-state study of impact of special care units for demented residents, surveyed approximately 2,000 nursing homes to identify facilities that maintained some form of special care unit. Estimated prevalence of such units was 11 percent, suggesting that special care units are far more numerous than had previously been reported. (Author/NB)

Obtained data on family caregiver stress from 23 family caregivers before, during, and following respite. Findings suggest that stress was moderated by in-hospital respite program for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Although short-term benefits may be realized for caregivers, in-hospital Alzheimer's respite care may present particular risk for…

Examined how strategies to manage dementia problems in 152 older people were associated with adjustment of family members while providing assistance to relative. Identified three dementia management strategies (criticism, encouragement, and active management) that were associated with three indices of family members' emotional adjustment (burden,…

Compared 272 spouse caregivers of dementia sufferers with 30 spouse caregivers of cancer victims on multiple indicators of well-being. Found that dementia caregivers were more adversely affected by their role than cancer caregivers. Illness duration and caregivers' employment status did not help to explain this difference. Younger spouse…