Aging with Pride: Innovations in Dementia Empowerment and Action (IDEA).

Background: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults and their care partners, compared to the general population, face unique vulnerabilities that exacerbate living with dementia, including elevated disparities in comorbidities, social isolation, and structural inequities, such as discrimination and lack of access to supports.

Methods: This paper describes the virtual adaptation process of the first-ever randomized controlled clinical trial intervention, Aging with Pride: Innovations in Dementia Empowerment and Action (IDEA), that was designed for SGM older adults living with dementia and their care partners and built upon the foundation of RDAD and NHAS.

Results: The virtual adaptation of IDEA was guided by the goals of accessibility, quality, ease of delivery, sustainability, and cultural relevance.

Design and development of the first randomized controlled trial of an intervention (IDEA) for sexual and gender minority older adults living with dementia and care partners.

Background: Heightened risks of cognitive impairment, disability, and barriers to care among sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults are well documented. To date, culturally responsive evidence-based dementia interventions for this population do not exist.

Objective: This study describes the design of the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing a culturally responsive cognitive behavioral and empowerment intervention, Innovations in Dementia Empowerment and Action (IDEA), developed to address the unique needs of SGM older adults living with dementia and care partners.

Implementation and impact of a Dementia Friends pilot.

Introduction: Dementia Friends is a dementia awareness program that trains lay leaders (called "dementia champions") to give presentations about dementia to combat stigma in their community.

Objective: In this mixed methods study, we aimed to evaluate the impact and implementation of a pilot Dementia Friends program in Washington State to assess whether it improved attitudes towards people living with dementia.

Method: Fifteen champions were recruited, who organized 22 Dementia Friends sessions, reaching 214 Dementia Friends participants.

Table Correction: Using Technology to Facilitate Fidelity Assessments: The Tele-STAR Caregiver Intervention.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/13599.].

Using Technology to Facilitate Fidelity Assessments: The Tele-STAR Caregiver Intervention.

Background: Families living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias have more access to support thanks to the development of effective telehealth-based programs. However, as technological science grows, so does the risk that these technology-based interventions will diverge from foundational protocols, diluting their efficacy. Strategies that ensure programs are delivered as intended, with fidelity to guiding protocols, are needed across the intervention spectrum-from development to wide-scale implementation.

Training Area Agencies on Aging Case Managers to Improve Physical Function, Mood, and Behavior in Persons With Dementia and Caregivers: Examples from the RDAD-Northwest Study.

The Reducing Disability in Alzheimer's Disease (RDAD) program has been shown to be an effective tool for teaching caregivers strategies to improve mood, behavior, and physical function in persons with dementia. This paper describes how RDAD has been translated and implemented for use by Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) case managers across Washington and Oregon. Modifications to the original RDAD program as part of its community translation included decreasing the number of in-person sessions while preserving all educational content; involving caregivers in exercise activities for themselves as well as acting as exercise coaches for care-receivers; and enrolling persons with cognitive impairment due to mixed etiologies.

Adopting Evidence-Based Caregiver Training Programs in the Real World: Outcomes and Lessons Learned From the STAR-C Oregon Translation Study.

Objectives: This article describes the translation and evaluation of STAR-Community Consultants program (STAR-C), an evidence-based dementia caregiver training program, within the Oregon Department of Human Services.

Method: Staff from two regional Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) were trained to implement all aspects of STAR-C, including screening, recruitment of caregiver/care-receiver dyads, and treatment delivery. Mailed assessments of caregiver depression, burden, and care-receiver mood, behavior, and quality of life were collected at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up.

Development and evaluation of a sleep education program for older adults with dementia living in adult family homes.

Objectives: To investigate the feasibility of implementing a Sleep Education Program (SEP) for improving sleep in adult family home (AFH) residents with dementia, and the relative efficacy of SEP compared with usual care control in a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Participants: Thirty-seven AFH staff-caregivers and 47 residents with comorbid dementia and sleep disturbances.

Intervention: SEP consisted of four training sessions with staff-caregivers to develop and implement individualized resident behavioral sleep plans.

Reactions of assisted living staff to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

This study investigates the experiences of unlicensed staff providing care for older adults with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). The purpose of this study was to describe the types and frequency of BPSD reported by unlicensed caregivers and to describe reactions and training of the caregivers who provide care to residents with BPSD. Data were derived from 87 staff-resident dyads in twelve assisted living facilities (ALFs).

Staff training in assisted living: evaluating treatment fidelity.

Objectives: To investigate a protocol for identifying and evaluating treatment fidelity in Staff Training in Assisted-living Residences (STAR), a structured but flexible program to train direct care staff to improve care of residents with dementia.

Design: Multisite feasibility trial.

Setting: Assisted living facilities (ALFs).

Improving dementia care in assisted living residences: addressing staff reactions to training.

More than 1 million older adults, many with significant cognitive impairment, receive care in assisted living residences (ALRs), and their numbers are increasing. Despite this, ALR staff are often inadequately trained to manage the complex emotional, behavioral, and functional impairments characteristic of these residents. Nurses are in a unique position to improve this situation by training and supervising ALR staff.

Managing sleep disturbances in adult family homes: recruitment and implementation of a behavioral treatment program.

This article describes a sleep education program (SEP) designed to teach owner/operators and direct-care staff working in adult family homes (AFHs) how to improve the sleep and nighttime behavior of older residents with dementia. There have been no sleep intervention studies conducted in AFHs, and strategies that are known to improve sleep in community-dwelling older adults or nursing home residents may not be feasible or effective in AFHs because of their unique care environment. The SEP was developed on the basis of experiences treating sleep disturbances in community-dwelling older adults with dementia (the Nighttime Insomnia Treatment and Education in Alzheimer's Disease study).