Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to "forced innovation" in the health education industry. High-quality training of the future rural health workforce is crucial to ensure a pipeline of rural health practitioners to meet the needs of rural communities. This paper describes the implementation of an online multidisciplinary teaching…

Background: Osteoporosis prevention education interventions have been found to be ineffective. Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of a developed intervention based on the health belief model, which emphasized its visible severity and proximal time of onset. Method: A sample of 109 college women were randomly assigned to either a treatment or…

A light exercise program was set up for 11 patients with Alzheimer's disease who exercised each day for 40 minutes. Their sleep patterns were compared with a control group who did not exercise. Results indicate that those who participated in the exercise program manifested 40% less restless behavior, while those in the non-exercise group showed a…

The Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Test (ADKT) was administered to samples of practicing nurses in the U.S. and Hong Kong. Overall, U.S. nurses were significantly more knowledgeable, but exhibited more negative bias than Hong Kong nurses. Findings suggest that nurses in both countries need more training. (JPS)

Analysis of the enrollment procedure for a study of an intensive, community-based diabetes management program revealed that persons who declined initially were slightly older and lived further away from the study site. Recruitment strategies were compared, revealing that press releases and newspaper advertisements were the most effective. (JPS)

Investigates the effects of specific health conditions on perceived quality of life for retirees (n=451). Pulmonary disease was a predictor of dissatisfaction for both sexes. Pulmonary disease and heart attack were the strongest predictors of dissatisfaction with health for men, followed closely by stroke. Arthritis was the strongest predictor of…

In order to assess vision in Alzheimer's disease, gerontologists must use tests that make minimal cognitive demands on the subject. Using such tests revealed a pattern of deficits in color discrimination, stereoacuity, contrast sensitivity, and backward masking. Impaired vision predicts deficient performance on numerous tests of cognition. (JPS)

Examines the relationship between stress and diabetes with data provided by a recent nationwide survey of older adults. Two main findings emerged. First, stressors arising in social roles that are highly important to older adults are more strongly related to diabetes than events associated with less important roles. Second, social support buffers…

This article derives from the experience of teaching an asynchronous web-based course, Communicating with Older Persons with Alzheimer's Disease, taught by a multidisciplinary team of three faculty. The students also were multidisciplinary with diverse cultural and educational backgrounds and varied professional experience with older adults. Our…

Legal standards for informed consent are discussed in the context of dental care for the elderly and severely ill. Variations in state common law and legislation are analyzed, focusing on differences between practitioner-oriented and patient-oriented approaches to informed consent. Implications for educators and practitioners are examined.…

Describes and evaluates an elder rehab program, which offers credit to students who serve as rehab partners and fitness supervisors to noninstitutionalized persons with dementia. In addition to aerobics and weight training workouts, participants engage in supervised volunteer work and memory- and language-stimulation activities with their student…

Despite evidence of increased interest among medical students in entering family practice, concern for the needs of the chronically ill and aged still seems to be largely absent in medical schools and students have negative attitudes toward them. Restructuring of medical education is necessary to promote more concern. (LBH)

Subpopulations of elderly adults at highest risk for suicide are identified, and several specific programs are described, along with a range of measures to prevent suicide in late life. These measures include primary prevention steps related to education, and secondary prevention involving early identification and assessment of the depressed and…

Research findings have demonstrated the relevance of a home care experience for teaching the interactions of the social, psychological, environmental, and biological factors that characterize chronic illness. Research was conducted in the Home Care Program at the University of California, San Francisco. (Author/MLW)

Study investigated the effects of a service-learning component in an undergraduate occupational therapy course. Comparisons were made between students involved in service-learning and those not involved of how they perceived institutionalized older adults' perspectives on disease and aging. Also evaluated were weekly journal entries of the…