Describes the El Portal Latino Alzheimer's Project--a dementia-specific outreach and services program targeting Latino caregivers in the Los Angeles area. Results of an evaluation of service utilization indicate a reduction in barriers to care and an increase in services utilization. Implications for social work practice are discussed. (Contains…

To control wanderers' exiting, the view and light through a window were manipulated using visual barriers: window blind, cloth barrier, and a combination of the two. The closed blind decreased exiting by 44% while the cloth barrier was 96% effective. Combining the blind and cloth barrier lessened exiting by 88%. (RJM)

Examined 3 conceptually distinct dimensions of family conflict in relation to depression and anger among 555 caregivers of Alzheimer patients. Found that conflicts involving family members' attitudes and actions toward caregiver were associated with increased risk for depression among caregivers, whereas conflicts stemming from family members'…

Examined effects of factors on support group attendance among family caregivers to frail elderly relatives. Found that attendance by primary caregivers was greater for those who were older, who had secondary informal caregiver involved in providing care, or who had significant health problems. Attendance was greater for those caring for…

Examined ways cultural values and norms influence experiences of Hispanic American caregivers (n=86) for relatives with Alzheimer's disease. Found depression being related to stronger adherence to norms of filial support. Factors associated with increased burden included lack of time for oneself, dependency needs of patient, and belief that one…

Suggests that doctors may one day be able to identify healthy people who will develop Alzheimer's disease. Discusses recent studies in which characteristics of a person's writing early in life appear to predict the disease, and brain scans can highlight changes that may precede dementia. (CCM)

The aim of this study was to explore changes related to sex differences on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised (WISC-R) subtest performance over a 7-year interval in middle-aged adults with intellectual disability (ID). Cognitive sex differences have been extensively studied in the general population, but there are few reports…

Caring for patients with dementia is complex and demanding. Since family physicians (FPs) provide much of this care, we examined their practices, learning needs, and barriers to care concerning Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. We surveyed 392 (approximately 50%) Nova Scotia FPs and conducted focus groups and interviews with: FPs; staff of…

Individuals with the apolipoprotein E e4 genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) show deficits in olfactory function. The purpose of the present study was to examine longitudinally odor identification (odor ID), odor threshold, picture identification, and global cognitive status in allele positive (e4+) and negative (e4-) persons.…

Many studies have found that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) perform significantly worse than normal controls on verbal fluency tasks. Moreover, some studies have found that AD patients' deficits compared to controls are more severe for semantic fluency (e.g., vegetables) than for letter fluency (e.g. words that begin with F). These…

This study examines the processing of a specific linguistic distinction, the mass/count distinction, in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Fourteen AD and 10 MCI subjects were tested using a sentence grammaticality judgement task where grammaticality violations were caused by determiner--noun…

We examined the performance of a group of people with moderately severe Alzheimer's type dementia on a naming task. We found that functional information plays an important role in determining naming performance on both living and non-living things. Perceptual information may play some role in naming living things. We also found some evidence that…

The diagnosis of dementia in Alzheimer's disease remains at times problematic in adults with intellectual disability. The analysis of 5-year consecutive data developed a researched-based clinical screening tool for dementia in Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome. The Adaptive Behaviour Dementia Questionnaire (ABDQ) is a 15-item…

This study examined agreement between recipients and providers about social support and personality. One hundred daughter caregivers of a parent with Alzheimer's disease and each caregiver's most important support provider independently reported supportive behaviors provided to caregivers, the perceived supportiveness of the provider, and…

The present study compares changes in job satisfaction and career commitment among Alzheimer's care staff participating in a two-phase, state-level training collaborative to improve dementia care. Results reveal an increase in extrinsic job satisfaction and a decrease in career commitment. Findings could be related to the effects of both the…