The purpose of this study was to develop appropriate somatosensory video game interventions on enhancing selective attention of institutional-dwelling elderly with disabilities. Fifty-eight participants aged 65[approximately]92 were recruited and divided into four groups, 4-week and 8-week experimental and two control groups, for evaluating the…

Purpose: To examine the effect of organizational culture and climate on depressive symptoms among nursing home residents. Design and Methods: Using a pooled cross-sectional design, this study examines a sample of 23 nursing homes, 1,114 employees, and 5,497 residents. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Minimum Data Set, Depression Rating…

Purpose: This study describes Florida's model of Medicaid nursing home (NH) reimbursement to compensate NHs for disaster-related expenses incurred as a result of 8 hurricanes within a 2-year period. This Florida model can serve as a demonstration for a national model for disaster-related reimbursement. Design and Methods: Florida reimburses NHs…

Purpose: When government funding for long-term care is reduced, participant outcomes may be adversely affected. We investigated the effect of program resources on individuals enrolled in the Michigan Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver program for elderly and disabled adults. Design and Methods: Using dates of major policy and budget…

When a parent leaves an inheritance over $2,000 to an individual with special needs, the inheritance is actually a gift to the government because it eliminates that child's qualification for government benefits. The use of a special needs trust eliminates this disqualification because the inheritance is not left to the individual with special…

The Delta Society defines animal-assisted therapy as "a goal-directed intervention in which an animal is incorporated as an integral part of the clinical healthcare treatment process." Unlike other animal-assisted activities, animal-assisted therapy, or AAT, is led by a professional such as a physical therapist, occupational therapist,…

Purpose: Although the nursing facility transition literature is growing, little research has analyzed the characteristics of individuals so assisted or compared participants to those who remain institutionalized. This article describes an analytic method that researchers can apply to address these knowledge gaps, using the Arkansas Passages…

In part 1 of this paper we presented the theory of an integrative geragogy. Integrative geragogy is a basic part of educational gerontology, dealing especially with the oldest of the old, mentally handicapped elderly people, and their potentials. In part 2 the context between theory and practice of an integrative geragogy shall be explained. We…

Geragogy as a part of gerontology seems to be established in aging societies. Also, geragogy as a form of education for elderly people, learning in the third age, is nowadays an integrated part of agogy. On the other hand, the increase in the number of people of the fourth age, the oldest of the old, handicapped elderly people in nursing homes, is…

Using data from 1981-82 Channeling Demonstration project, examined types of health care costs (hospital, physician and ancillary care, nursing home, and prescription medicine) that contributed to overall expenses to determine sources of financially catastrophic health care expenses among disabled elderly persons. Found expenses for prescription…

Used data from 1982 and 1984 National Long-Term Care Surveys to track cohort of disabled elderly persons residing in community in 1982 over the two years that followed. In contrast to persons who did not use nursing homes, persons who entered nursing homes had a four- to five-fold risk of spending down to Medicaid eligibility. (Author/NB)

This Congressional oversight hearing was convened to examine evidence that many of the nation's nursing homes restrict or deny access to the elderly poor and disabled, leaving the 18 million Americans dependent on Medicaid especially vulnerable to neglect and exploitation. Evidence was heard on discriminatory admissions, on the practice of…

Examined records of Puerto Rican/Hispanic patients (N=25) residing in, or discharged from, one nursing home and compared records to those of control group (N=50) admitted during same time. Found Puerto Rican/Hispanic group was younger with more disabilities. Suggests that Hispanic patients' families may not have been able to care for disabled…

Describes the total cost of care, including both formal and informal services calculated using a market value approach, for a cohort of disabled elderly. The total annual cost of caring was estimated at $9,600; for most elders, the cost of a complete substitution of informal care for formal services, plus living expenses, was less costly than…

This paper offers advice, from members of People First, concerning the process of having individuals with disabilities move out of institutions and nursing homes into community living arrangements. The first section lists categories of questions that express the potential concerns and worries of people who are going to move, such as "Why do…