Testing the reliability of the Health Literacy Questionnaire with carers of older adults receiving hospital care.

Objective: To determine the re-test reliability of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) with carers of older adults discharged from hospital or attending the outpatient clinic.

Methods: Carers completed the HLQ twice by telephone and rated the acceptability of completing the tool. Tool completion time was recorded.

Development of the dementia community attitudes questionnaire.

Background: What it means to live with dementia is changing. Autonomy, independence and continued community involvement are now recognised goals. As a result, new initiatives are required to support people with dementia to sustain their quality of life, update community understanding and reflect resultant change in community attitudes.

Measurement properties of self-report instruments to assess health literacy in older adults: a systematic review.

Background: High health literacy (HL) is important to optimise health outcomes, particularly for older people (who are substantial consumers of health services) and their adult caregivers. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate measurement properties of HL instruments tested with these population groups.

Materials And Methods: Six databases (MEDLINE (OVID); CINAHL; EMBASE (OVID); PsycInfo; Scopus; Cochrane Library) were searched for studies evaluating eight measurement properties of HL tools administered to older people or their caregivers.

A qualitative exploration of family carer's understandings of people with dementia's expectations for the future.

Background: There is little evidence that outlines how family carers understand the person with dementia's perspective, values and anticipated future needs. Whilst people with dementia should be consulted about their own quality of life and care values, carers - otherwise known as care partners - require such understandings to ensure that the support the person receives into the future upholds their quality of life and is consistent with what they desire.

Aim: This research aimed to explore and describe family carers' experience of supporting the person with dementia to maintain their quality of life by understanding how carers developed an awareness and understanding of the person with dementia's expectations for the future and what they believed was important for the person to whom they provided care.

Bed Moves, Ward Environment, Staff Perspectives and Falls for Older People with High Falls Risk in an Acute Hospital: A Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Falls remain an important problem for older people in hospital, particularly those with high falls risk. This mixed methods study investigated the association between multiple bed moves and falls during hospitalisation of older patients identified as a fall risk, as well as safety of ward environments, and staff person-centredness and level of inter-professional collaboration.

Methods: Patients aged ≥70 years, admitted through the Emergency Department (ED) and identified at high fall risk, who were admitted to four target medical wards, were followed until discharge or transfer to a non-study ward.

Assessment of functional health literacy in Brazilian carers of older people.

Unlabelled: Individuals with low health literacy have less knowledge of their own health condition. Carers play a key role in older people's activities of daily living.

Objective: to evaluate the performance of carers of older people using the S-TOFHLA (Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults) and to identify caregiver characteristics associated with low functional health literacy.

Caregivers' experiences of a home support program after the hospital discharge of an older family member: a qualitative analysis.

Background: The ageing global population has seen increasing numbers of older people living with chronic health problems, declining function, and frailty. As older people seek to live out their years at home, family members, friends and neighbours (informal caregivers) are increasingly relied upon for support. Moreover, pressured health systems and shorter hospital length of stay mean that informal caregivers can find themselves supporting the older person who is still unwell after discharge.

The cost-effectiveness of a telephone-based intervention to support caregivers of older people discharged from hospital.

Background: A telephone intervention for caregivers of older people discharged from hospital was shown to improve preparedness to care, reduce caregiver strain and caregiver distress. No cost-effectiveness analysis has been published on this, or similar interventions. The study aims addressed here were to examine whether positive outcomes for caregivers resulting from the Further Enabling Care at Home (FECH) program changed the use and costs of health services by patients; and to assess cost-effectiveness.

Obtaining information from family caregivers to inform hospital care for people with dementia: A pilot study.

Aim: We aimed to implement a systematic nurse-caregiver conversation, examining fidelity, dose and reach of implementation; how implementation strategies worked; and feasibility and mechanisms of the practice change.

Background: Appropriate hospital care for people living with dementia may draw upon: information from the patient and family caregiver about the patient's perspective, preferences and usual support needs; nursing expertise; and opportunities the nurse has to share information with the care team. Within this context, planned nurse-caregiver communication merits further investigation.

Hospital postdischarge intervention trialled with family caregivers of older people in Western Australia: potential translation into practice.

Unlabelled: There is lack of a suitable assessment tool that can be used routinely and systematically by hospital staff to address family caregivers' (FCs') support needs. This paper describes a novel approach to identifying and addressing FCs' needs following hospital discharge of the older person receiving care.

Setting And Participants: FC recruitment occurred on the patient's discharge from a tertiary hospital in Western Australia; 64 completed the study; 80% were female; mean age 63.

Revisiting the Pain Resource Nurse Role in Sustaining Evidence-Based Practice Changes for Pain Assessment and Management.

Background: Effective pain management is unlikely to occur without consistent and timely assessments. To improve assessment and management of pain, ward-based pain resource nurses were introduced in 2007 to facilitate hospital-wide evidence-based practice changes using three key targets. One-year post implementation of this quality improvement project, promising results were revealed.

Personal emergency alarms: do health outcomes differ for purchasers and nonpurchasers?

The objective of this study was to assess whether purchasing a personal alarm service makes a difference in a range of health outcomes for community dwelling older adults. The prospective cohort study involved 295 individuals for whom data on emergencies experienced at home were collected over a period of 12 months. Purchasers of alarms, compared to nonpurchasers, benefitted in terms of feeling more safe and secure and being more active around their home.

Aboriginal parent support: A partnership approach.

Aims And Objectives: This study was positioned within a larger action research study relating to a peer-led Aboriginal home visiting parent support program in an urban Western Australian setting. The aims for this study component were to identify program elements, exploring participants' perceptions of the program's suitability, feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness to inform program model recommendations and add to the body of knowledge on effective Aboriginal peer-led program models.

Background: The ability of Aboriginal parents to develop positive family environments is crucial, with parent support needing to be reflexive to local needs and sociocultural influences.

Peer-led Aboriginal parent support: Program development for vulnerable populations with participatory action research.

Background: Participatory action research (PAR) is a credible, culturally appropriate methodology that can be used to effect collaborative change within vulnerable populations.

Aim/objective: This PAR study was undertaken in a Western Australian metropolitan setting to develop and evaluate the suitability, feasibility and effectiveness of an Aboriginal peer-led home visiting programme. A secondary aim, addressed in this paper, was to explore and describe research methodology used for the study and provide recommendations for its implementation in other similar situations.

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in reducing grief experienced by family carers of people with dementia: a systematic review.

Background: Family carers of people living and dying with dementia experience grief. The prevalence, predictors and associated factors of grief in this population have been identified, and psychosocial interventions to decrease grief symptoms have been implemented. However, the effect of psychosocial interventions on family carers' grief, loss or bereavement has not been examined.

Subjective quality of life of those 65 years and older experiencing dementia.

Background/objectives: To describe how people experiencing dementia define quality of life and how this may be supported.

Design: Qualitative descriptive component of mixed methods cross-sectional study.

Setting: Western Canadian community (4-h weekly care minimum), supportive housing (24-h support/supervision), personal care homes (24-h nursing).

Outcomes for family carers of a nurse-delivered hospital discharge intervention for older people (the Further Enabling Care at Home Program): Single blind randomised controlled trial.

Background: Hospital discharge of older people receiving care at home offers a salient opportunity to identify and address their family caregivers' self-identified support needs.

Objectives: This study tested the hypothesis that the extent to which family caregivers of older people discharged home from hospital felt prepared to provide care at home would be positively influenced by their inclusion in the new Further Enabling Care at Home program.

Design: This single-blind randomised controlled trial compared outcomes from usual care alone with those from usual care plus the new program.

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in reducing grief experienced by family carers of people with dementia: a systematic review protocol.

Review Objective: The objective is to examine the existing evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions to assist grief pre- and post-bereavement for family carers of people with dementia residing in the community or in a health or social care facility.

Review Question: What psychosocial interventions for family carers of people with dementia are most effective in reducing: (1) anticipatory grief, (2) post-death grief (bereavement), and (3) complicated grief?

Piloting staff education in Australia to reduce falls in older hospital patients experiencing delirium.

This study piloted a hospital-based delirium and falls education program to investigate the impacts on staff knowledge and practice plus patient falls. On a medical ward, staff knowledge was compared before and after education sessions. Other data - collected a day before and after program implementation - addressed documentation of patients' delirium and evidence of compliance with falls risk minimization protocols.

A New Standard in Dementia Knowledge Measurement: Comparative Validation of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale and the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale.

Objectives: To compare the psychometric performance of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS) and the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) when administered to a large international cohort before and after online dementia education.

Design: Comparative psychometric analysis with pre- and posteducation scale responses.

Setting: The setting for this research encompassed 7,909 individuals from 124 countries who completed the 9-week Understanding Dementia Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

The emerging role of the urban-based aboriginal peer support worker:A Western Australian study.

Purpose: To explore the self-perceived role of the Aboriginal peer support worker working with familieswith young children. This study was a component of a larger participatory action research study under-taken in a Western Australian metropolitan setting to develop and evaluate the suitability, feasibility andeffectiveness of an Aboriginal peer-led home visiting program.

Methods: Focus group interviews were carried out with peer support workers using unstructured andsemi-structured interviews within Action Learning Sets.

Can a community of practice enhance a palliative approach for people drawing close to death with dementia?

This action research study was conducted to trial a strategy intended to support a consistent, high-quality, palliative approach for people with dementia drawing close to death-the implementation of a community of practice. Professionals from community/residential care and hospitals formed this community of practice, which took on the role of an action research group. The group was supported to identify and address practice problems.

Exploring risk profiles and emergency frequency of purchasers and non-purchasers of personal emergency alarms: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Personal alarms support independent living and have the potential to reduce serious consequences after a fall or during a medical emergency. While some Australian states have government funded personal alarm programs, others do not; but user-pays services are available. Although several studies have examined the profiles of alarm users, little is known about the risk profile of non-users.

Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale: Development and Preliminary Psychometric Properties.

Objectives: To develop a reliable and valid dementia knowledge scale to address limitations of existing measures, support knowledge evaluation in diverse populations, and inform educational intervention development.

Design: A five-stage, systematic scale development process was employed to construct and assess the psychometric properties of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS).

Setting: Data for the study were generated in an online environment and during clinical dementia care placements from Australian (n = 1,321) and international respondents (n = 446).