Three methods of assessing values for advance care planning: comparing persons with and without dementia.

Advance care planning ideally includes communication about values between patients, family members, and care providers. This study examined the utility of health care values assessment tools for older adults with and without dementia. Adults aged 60 and older, with and without dementia, completed three values assessment tools-open-ended, forced-choice, and rating scale questions-and named a preferred surrogate decision maker.

The value of telephone support groups among ethnically diverse caregivers of persons with dementia.

Purpose: Dementia caregiving is a rapidly growing public health problem. Logistical problems prevent many caregivers from utilizing available interventions. This article provides a demonstration of the usefulness of technology for conducting telephone-based support groups in ethnically diverse dementia caregivers.

More than meets the eye: how examiner training affects the reliability of the MacNeill-Lichtenberg decision tree in geriatric rehabilitation patients.

Objective: To examine the effect of examiner training on the test-retest reliability of the MacNeill-Lichtenberg Decision Tree (MLDT), a tool for guiding clinicians' decision making for referrals for mental health problems.

Design: Correlational analyses and chi-squares were used to examine the influence of demographic variables on MLDT performance and the test-retest reliability of its cognitive and affective components.

Setting: Rehabilitation unit of a large, freestanding, urban hospital.