Purpose: Description of study participants and documentation of the desired diversity in the Prevention Research Centers Healthy Aging Research Network's Workgroup on Promoting Cognitive Health large multisite study designed to examine attitudes about brain health, behaviors associated with its maintenance, and information-receiving preferences…

Purpose: This study examined the association among caregiver labor force participation, employees' caregiving activities, and the amount and quality of care received by care recipients. Design and Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted with 478 adults who were employed full time and 705 nonemployed adults who provided care to a family member…

Compared to hospitalized patients (N=100) who had not fallen, 100 hospitalized patients who had fallen were more likely to have had a previous fall, presence of a secondary diagnosis, intravenous therapy, impaired gait, used walking aids, and poor mental states. Identifies three types of falls (physiological anticipated, physiological…

Psychiatrists have been reported to demonstrate a variety of negative attitudes toward older patients. This study suggests that certain personal characteristics of psychiatrists are associated with more pronounced negative attitudes. These characteristics include female gender, psychoanalytic theoretical orientation, and certification by the…

Purpose: Previous research in specific locales indicates that individuals admitted to rural nursing homes have lower care needs than individuals admitted to nursing homes in urban areas, and that rural nursing homes differ in their mix of short-stay and chronic-care residents. This research investigates whether differences in acuity are a function…

Examined three-way relationships among patient characteristics, type of care (admission to nursing home or community setting), and 6-month outcomes of 352 long-term care patients. Found that patient characteristics influenced type of care received and that substantial portions of variance in outcomes were attributable to initial differences among…

Purpose: Although persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) require increasingly more assistance with activities of daily living as their disease progresses, the caregiving environment has received little attention as a source of predictors of their survival time. We report here on a study to determine whether variation in survival time of persons…

Presents a model of outpatient interdisciplinary geriatric care provided at a veteran's hospital. Compares characteristics of patients served in this program with those in community-based geriatrics outpatient clinics described in the literature. (Author/ABB)

Examined resident characteristics most conducive to sociability and the common bonds underlying nursing home friendships. Suggests that lucidity and sight explain a significant proportion of the "loner" status of some residents, while placement on the same unit and contemporaneous age proved to be the most common bonds underlying…

Surveyed 67 neighbors in retirement housing to identify characteristics and helping styles within an informal support system. Findings confirmed three exchange types: (1) high helpers, who exhibit a quasiprofessional style; (2) mutual helpers, who show an interdependent style; and (3) neighborhood isolates, whose social ties are outside the…

Purpose: Agitation frequently accompanies cognitive decline among nursing home residents. This study used cross-sectional and longitudinal (up to 18 months) methods to examine agitation among profoundly and moderately impaired residents using both staff report and direct observation methods. Design and Methods: The study included participants (N =…

Long term care in a nursing home prior to enrollment in PACE remain at high risk of readmission, despite the availability of comprehensive services. This study determined overall risk and predictors of long-term nursing home admission within the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Design and Methods: Data PACE records for 4,646…

An increasingly prevalent family constellation is a home headed by a grandparent who is raising grandchildren. We explore the state of our knowledge about such grandparents with particular attention to its implications for service providers and researchers. In our review we address several key areas: (a) the costs and benefits of raising a…

Purpose: This study examined changes in leisure activities of older adults over an 8-year period, and associated sociodemographic and health characteristics. Design and Methods: Data were from a longitudinal study conducted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; 380 respondents were interviewed in-person in both 1985 and 1993. Changes in ten specific…

The provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935 are reviewed and suggestions are made for improvement in the system. The author stresses that the income maintenance standards must be revised so that the Social Security system will continue to exist. (HLM)