A Personalized Music Intervention in Nursing Home Residents Living With Dementia: Findings From a Randomized Study.

Utilizing a randomized control design, this mixed method study aimed to assess the impact of a personalized music intervention on mood, agitation level, and psychotropic drug use in individuals with moderate to advanced dementia residing in long-term care facilities. The sample comprised of 261 participants, with 148 in the intervention group and 113 in the control group. Data were collected from three sources: quantitative data from the Minimum Data Set and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, observational data of music-listening sessions, and an administrator survey regarding the lead staff person's perceptions of the intervention.

Mason Caregivers Aiming for Resilience, Empowerment, and Support Study: Assessing Family Caregiver Burden Post-Intervention.

Family caregivers of older adults living with dementia are known to experience higher burden levels. This empirical study conducted a sub-group analysis of burden levels of 97 family caregivers by the dementia severity of care recipients. Family caregivers were assessed before and after the 9-week Stress-Busting Program for Family Caregivers (SBP).

Community arts engagement supports perceptions of personal growth in older adults.

Purpose: The effects of arts engagement on older adults have been well-documented. However, the ways older adults overcome common situational and dispositional barriers to enhance personal growth and well-being are less known.

Methods: Fifty-six community dwelling older adults (71.

Characteristics of Nursing Facilities and Staff Willingness to Implement a Non-Pharmacological Intervention.

While non-pharmacological interventions could positively impact mood and behaviors of nursing-home residents who are living with dementia, some facilities are more willing to adopt such interventions than others. This study investigated the characteristics of Medicaid-funded nursing facilities that were associated with their willingness to implement a non-pharmacological intervention, personalized music. Using the publicly-available dataset (aka LTCfocus) from Brown University, this study examined characteristics of nursing homes in Virginia that have implemented or are in the process of implementing a personalized music intervention ( = 59) and that have decided not to implement it ( = 216).

Creating Interprofessional Readiness to Advance Age-Friendly U.S. Healthcare.

A successful interprofessional faculty development program was transformed into a more clinically focused professional development opportunity for both faculty and clinicians. Discipline-specific geriatric competencies and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies were aligned to the 4Ms framework. The goal of the resulting program, Creating Interprofessional Readiness for Complex and Aging Adults (CIRCAA), was to advance an age-friendly practice using evidence-based strategies to support wellness and improve health outcomes while also addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH).

Culturally Responsive Companion Program for a Japanese Woman with Dementia in a U.S. Nursing Home.

The older foreign-born population is predicted to increase in the United States. As a whole, this population in the long-term care setting is more likely to face greater challenges associated with loneliness and social isolation due to their smaller social networks, language and cultural differences. The benefits of person-centered care have been widely recognized and may be a potential remedy for such challenges felt by older immigrants.

Compounding Complexity: Examining Multiple Factors Leading to Challenges Within Grandfamilies.

Background And Objectives: Grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in the absence of the biological parents, often referred to as custodial grandparents, are prevalent across the United States. The objective of this project was to establish a grounded theory as a tool for practitioners and researchers to understand the experiences of members of grandfamiles.

Research Design And Methods: In-depth, unstructured interviews with custodial grandparents and grandchildren from 15 grandfamilies were conducted.

A web-based training program for direct care workers in long-term care communities: Providing knowledge and skills to implement a music and memory intervention.

As dementia increases and the availability of at-home caregivers decreases, the need grows for effective training for direct care workers. Direct care workers have demanding schedules with restrictive availability and lack professional incentives to pursue specialized training. This study explored the impact of the (, a web-based, micro-learning training for direct care workers, combined with the implementation of the Music & Memory intervention.

Results from a person-centered music intervention for individuals living with dementia.

Aim: Dementia is a chronic, costly disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Effective, affordable person-centered interventions are required to improve the lived experiences of individuals with dementia and their caregivers in various care settings. The present study examined the effects of a person-centered music listening intervention on mood, agitation and social engagement for individuals living with dementia.

"Maintaining connections but wanting more": the continuity of familial relationships among assisted-living residents.

Social support is a key component of well-being for older adults, particularly for those who have moved from independent living to assisted living involving a transformation of roles, relationships, and responsibilities. Twenty-nine assisted-living facility residents were interviewed to understand the perceived continuity of relationships with family and friends. An inductive approach to thematic analysis revealed 1 main theme and 3 subthemes.

A case study of professional change: the impact of the National Gerontological Social Work Competencies Survey.

Our society is aging, and this demographic change necessitates that all social workers have basic competency in gerontology. This article describes the results of a competency survey conducted in 2000, and how these results helped transform basic social work curricula and enhance gerontology-related resources. Results were used to encourage and assist social work faculty to infuse gerontological content into social work curriculum, which helped practitioners to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the needs of a growing aging population.

Older adults with Alzheimer's disease in a faith community.

In the first phase of this study, focus groups were conducted with 12 clergy to explore how to meet the needs of Alzheimer's disease patients and their families. The clergy reported that although they do reach out to these families, they have not received formal training, so they often do not know what families need. Members of their congregations who are trained in working with Alzheimer's patients need to partner with the clergy in reaching out to these families.

Collaborating, teaching and learning in a cyberspace community: a virtual AGE experience.

This paper describes one outcome of a collaborative teaching and learning partnership between two Universities via a Web-based environment. A description and evaluation of a semester-long project combining students from two different universities is examined. A total of 22 students participated as members of six different virtual health-care teams.

Increasing aging and advocacy competency: the intergenerational advocacy pilot project.

The Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Strengthening Aging and Gerontology Education for Social Work (SAGE-SW) project, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation partnered with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) to develop an Intergenerational Policy and Advocacy Project (IAP). This curriculum pilot project, based on a community organization model, was conducted with 13 baccalaureate social work (BSW) and master's social work (MSW) programs across the country and 122 students.

Developing visibility for aging in social work: the first NGSWC.

In March 2001, the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Strengthening Aging and Gerontology Education for Social Work (SAGE-SW) project published an action agenda for social work and aging (CSWE/SAGE-SW, 2001). CSWE SAGE-SW, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation from 1998 to 2004, had several charges in the first phase of funding, including the gathering of data through a thorough review of literature, focus groups, surveys and a variety of activities to garner expert input.

Personal assistance providers' mistreatment of disabled adults.

This article describes a survey of 84 adults with disabilities who received personal assistance with activities of daily living from family members, informal providers, or agency personnel. Results showed that 30 percent reported mistreatment from their primary provider, and 61 percent reported mistreatment by another provider. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, and theft or extortion were the most common forms of mistreatment by primary providers.