An Initial Exploration into Job Satisfaction Among Long-Term Care Administrators and State Tested Nursing Assistants in Ohio.

This pilot study examines Ohio's licensed nursing home administrators and state tested nursing assistant's perspectives about job satisfaction, future career and employment plans, potential beneficial changes to their organizations, and their thoughts on reducing turnover rates in their field. Ohio Board of Executives of Long-Term Services and Supports provided their contact list of all 1,969 licensed nursing home administrators in Ohio in the fall of 2023. Two surveys were created for licensed nursing home administrators and state tested nursing assistants.

Veteran's Attitudes and Knowledge of End-of-Life Care: A Pilot Study Using a Mixed Methods Approach.

Veterans make up a quarter of the deaths in the United States (US). However, little is known about their knowledge and preferences about end-of-life care and pain management. Given this, we were interested in how veterans' military experiences impact their end-of-life experiences and attitudes.

Hospitalization in High Fracture Risk Older Adults with Osteoporosis Using the Safe Functional Motion Test: A Longitudinal Analysis.

The Safe Functional Motion Test (SFM-5) is a five item performance based clinical assessment tool quantifying habitual daily movement that may increase the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Fractures are a major cause of hospitalization and contributor to increased health care utilization costs. A sample of 1,700 adults, aged 40 and older, from an osteoporosis specialty clinic were evaluated to determine if the initial SFM-5 score had predictive utility for determining inpatient hospitalization at 12, 24, and 36 months post fracture.

Measuring Attitudes About End-of-Life Care: Evaluation of a Modified Version of the Hospice Philosophy Scale.

The Hospice Philosophy Scale (HPS) is the only scaled instrument that measures health professionals' attitudes about end-of-life care consistent with the hospice philosophy. This study tested the properties of a modified version of the HPS to provide preliminary validation data on internal consistency, convergent validity, and factorability in a broad population of adults. A cross-sectional telephone survey designed to assess the general population's attitudes regarding hospice use was administered.

Quality of death among hospice decedents: Proxy observations from a survey of community-dwelling adults in the contiguous United States.

This study examines hospice service experience and quality of death. A survey of 123 community-dwelling adults in the United States found that physical comfort, pain-free, and spiritual peace were more important to respondents reporting a personal experience with hospice. A "good death" was associated with older patients who died at home, and respondent satisfaction with hospice service.

Willingness to Use Pain Medication to Treat Pain.

Objective: Despite the growth of the economic impact of pain and pain management, there remains a lack of knowledge about disparities, especially, evidence regarding individual attitudes and beliefs about accepting pain treatments. This study provides preliminary information on the prevalence of public concerns about pain management and a better understanding of factors that may ultimately lead to improved pain management and treatment adherence.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling adults 18+ in the US, 123 randomly selected respondents were telephone-interviewed in 2012.

Knowledge About Hospice: Exploring Misconceptions, Attitudes, and Preferences for Care.

Context: Poor knowledge and misperceptions about hospice are believed to be common, but there is scant evidence about the public's understanding of hospice.

Objectives: To examine hospice knowledge among geographically diverse adults; and describe linkages between knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about hospice care, and demographics.

Methods: A small cross-sectional telephone survey of adults living in the contiguous US was conducted using randomly selected numbers (cell phone and landline) and over-sampling of minorities.

Knowledge About Hospice Care and Beliefs About Pain Management: Exploring Differences Between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics.

Context: Among Hispanics, incomplete knowledge about hospice care may explain low rates of utilization and culturally-specific beliefs about pain and pain treatments may contribute to disparities in pain management.

Objectives: To compare (1) knowledge and attitudes regarding hospice, (2) and beliefs about pain and pain medication between Hispanics and non-Hispanics.

Methods: A cross-sectional phone-based survey of adults living in the contiguous United States was conducted using randomly selected phone numbers with over-sampling for diversity.

Accreditation of gerontology programs: a look from inside.

For over three decades, there has been considerable discussion about the development of gerontology education in the United States. A debate about accreditation is a logical outgrowth in this evolution. The dialogue about accreditation raises some important questions and gives gerontology an opportunity to further define itself.

Gender and informal caregiving in CCRCs: primary caregivers or support networks?

Relatively little research has been conducted on caregiving or kin support patterns among residents of newer forms of senior housing. The current research investigates variation in reported current or potential supporters by gender, age, and marital status among 687 residents of four continuing care retirement communities. Women and men tended to identify different configurations of social support, with the gender difference partially attributable to marital status (i.

Work organization, economic inequality, and depression among nursing assistants: a multilevel modeling approach.

To investigate the relationships among the nursing home work environment, emotional strain, and depression in Nursing Assistants in Ohio and West Virginia, this cross-sectional study was conducted with 395 Nurse Assistants in 49 nursing homes in Ohio and West Virginia. Organizational attributes were measured independently at the individual and organizational levels. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to analyze the data.

Longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal effects of self-assessed global health and depressive symptoms.

This study examined whether a reciprocal relationship exists between measures of self-assessed global health and depressive symptoms, net of covariates that included chronic illness, functional disability, education, income, gender, race, and age. Analyses of five waves of data from the Rand version of the Health and Retirement Survey (N=7,475), using an autoregressive, cross-lagged panel design, indicated that self-assessed overall health had a modest but statistically significant and consistent effect on depressive symptoms. In contrast, the level of depressive symptoms had a statistically nonsignificant effect on self-assessed health.