A scoping review to inform the development of dementia care competencies.

Health professionals and care partners of persons living with dementia have expressed that learning needs related to dementia care are a priority. There are currently a variety of training programs available in Ontario (Canada) to address aspects of dementia care, but no commonly accepted description of the core knowledge, skills, and abilities, (i.e.

Living well with dementia: The role volunteer-based social recreational programs in promoting social connectedness of people with dementia and their caregivers.

This evaluation study was designed to examine the factors that contribute the promotion of social connectedness among people with dementia and their caregivers through social recreational programs; develop an understanding of volunteer's impact on program success; and identify the barriers and facilitators to improve the volunteer-based programs to promote social connectedness. A qualitative descriptive research design was used to explore the study participants' lived experiences of social recreational programs from Alzheimer's Society of Durham Region (ASDR) in Ontario, Canada. A final sample of 31 participants was recruited including people with dementia, informal caregivers, and community volunteers.

Examining the barriers of influenza vaccine hesitancy in persons with dementia: a literature review.

Background/aims: Despite the proven benefits of vaccine prevention and the continuous development of this important public health measure, vaccine hesitancy is among the top ten threats to global health according to the World Health Organization in 2019. Those who contract the influenza virus will typically develop a mild illness. However, for populations at a higher risk, including those diagnosed with dementia, influenza is proven to be more detrimental.

Is There an Association between Physical Activity and Sleep in Community-Dwelling Persons with Dementia: An Exploratory Study Using Self-Reported Measures?

Sleep disturbances are common in persons with dementia (PWD). While pharmacotherapy is widely used, non-pharmacological interventions are beginning to surface as first-line management strategies. This study sought to investigate if physical activity was associated with more favourable sleep patterns in PWD, and to compare the sleep quantity and quality between active and inactive PWD.

Palliative chemotherapy among people living in poverty with metastasised colon cancer: facilitation by primary care and health insurance.

Background: Many Americans with metastasised colon cancer do not receive indicated palliative chemotherapy. We examined the effects of health insurance and physician supplies on such chemotherapy in California.

Methods: We analysed registry data for 1199 people with metastasised colon cancer diagnosed between 1996 and 2000 and followed for 1 year.

Colon cancer care and survival: income and insurance are more predictive in the USA, community primary care physician supply more so in Canada.

Background: Our research group advanced a health insurance theory to explain Canada's cancer care advantages over America. The late Barbara Starfield theorized that Canada's greater primary care-orientation also plays a critically protective role. We tested the resultant Starfield-Gorey theory by examining the effects of poverty, health insurance and physician supplies, primary care and specialists, on colon cancer care in Ontario and California.

Multiplicative disadvantage of being an unmarried and inadequately insured woman living in poverty with colon cancer: historical cohort exploration in California.

Background: Many Americans diagnosed with colon cancer do not receive indicated chemotherapy. Certain unmarried women may be particularly disadvantaged. A 3-way interaction of the multiplicative disadvantages of being an unmarried and inadequately insured woman living in poverty was explored.

Lack of access to chemotherapy for colon cancer: multiplicative disadvantage of being extremely poor, inadequately insured and African American.

Background: Despite evidence of chemotherapy's ability to cure or comfort those with colon cancer, nearly half of such Americans do not receive it. African Americans (AA) seem particularly disadvantaged. An ethnicity by poverty by health insurance interaction was hypothesized such that the multiplicative disadvantage of being extremely poor and inadequately insured is worse for AAs than for non-Hispanic white Americans (NHWA).

Better colon cancer care for extremely poor Canadian women compared with American women.

Extremely poor Canadian women were recently observed to be largely advantaged on most aspects of breast cancer care as compared with similarly poor, but much less adequately insured, women in the United States. This historical study systematically replicated the protective effects of single- versus multipayer health care by comparing colon cancer care among cohorts of extremely poor women in California and Ontario between 1996 and 2011. The Canadian women were again observed to have been largely advantaged.

Impact of the global economic crisis on the health of unemployed autoworkers.

A phenomenological investigation was undertaken to examine the effects of the 2008-09 global economic recession on the health of unemployed blue-collar autoworkers in the Canadian province of Ontario between September and November 2009. A total of 22 men and 12 women took part. Participants completed a quantitative demographic and financial questionnaire.

A case-control study examining the effects of active versus sedentary lifestyles on measures of body iron burden and oxidative stress in postmenopausal women.

Approximately half of the Canadian adults have sedentary lifestyles that increase their risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Women are 10 times more likely to die from CVD than from any other disease. Their risk almost doubles with the onset of menopause, which may result in increased body iron burden and oxidative stress in sedentary women.

Prevalence and correlates of potentially undetected dementia among residents of institutional care facilities in Ontario, Canada, 2009-2011.

Objectives: This study aims to determine the prevalence of potentially undetected dementia among institutional care facility residents in Ontario, Canada, and to identify factors associated with undetection.

Methods: We utilized a population-based secondary data analysis approach, pertaining to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's Continuing Care Reporting System, 2009-2011. Potentially undetected dementia was defined as having severely impaired cognitive function and requiring extensive assistance on activity of daily living (ADL) but no records of dementia diagnoses.

Effects of being uninsured or underinsured and living in extremely poor neighborhoods on colon cancer care and survival in California: historical cohort analysis, 1996-2011.

Background: We examined the mediating effects of health insurance on poverty-colon cancer care and survival relationships and the moderating effects of poverty on health insurance-colon cancer care and survival relationships among women and men in California.

Methods: We analyzed registry data for 3,291 women and 3,009 men diagnosed with colon cancer between 1996 and 2000 and followed until 2011 on lymph node investigation, stage at diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, wait times and survival. We obtained socioeconomic data for individual residences from the 2000 census to categorize the following neighborhoods: high poverty (30% or more poor), middle poverty (5-29% poor) and low poverty (less than 5% poor).

Quality-of-life outcomes among Alzheimer's disease family caregivers following community-based intervention.

This study sought to determine how community-based interventions such as adult day programs and caregiver support groups affected the quality of life (QOL) of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease clients. The authors hypothesized that using community-based interventions would increase the QOL of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease clients. They conducted a pilot study employing a cross-sectional comparative design involving 62 caregivers in the Durham region, Ontario, Canada.

Gram-negative and gram-positive antibacterial properties of the whole plant extract of willow herb (Epilobium angustifolium).

The emergence of new pathogens and the increase in the number of multidrug-resistant strains in well-established pathogens during the past decade represent a growing public health concern globally. With the current lack of research and development of new antibiotics by large pharmaceutical companies due to poor financial returns, new alternatives need to be explored including natural herbal or plant-based extracts with reported antibacterial properties. Willow herb (Epilobium angustifolium) preparations have been used in traditional aboriginal and folk medicine preparations externally as an antiphlogistic to treat prostate and gastrointestinal disorders and as an antiseptic to treat infected wounds.

Associations of physician supplies with colon cancer care in Ontario and California, 1996 to 2006.

Background: This study examined the differential effects of physician supplies on colon cancer care in Ontario and California. The associations of physician supplies with colon cancer stage at diagnosis, receipt of surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, and 5-year survival were observed within each country and compared between-country.

Methods: Random samples of Ontario and California cancer registries provided 2,461 and 2,200 colon cancer cases that were diagnosed between 1996 and 2000, and followed until 2006.

Effects of socioeconomic status on colon cancer treatment accessibility and survival in Toronto, Ontario, and San Francisco, California, 1996-2006.

Objectives: We examined the differential effects of socioeconomic status on colon cancer care and survival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and San Francisco, California.

Methods: We analyzed registry data for colon cancer patients from Ontario (n = 930) and California (n = 1014), diagnosed between 1996 and 2000 and followed until 2006, on stage, surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, and survival. We obtained socioeconomic data for individuals' residences from population censuses.

Physician supply and breast cancer survival.

Background: This study tested the hypothesis that physician supply thresholds are associated with breast cancer survival in Ontario.

Methods: The 5-year survival of 17,820 female breast cancer patients diagnosed between 1995 and 1997 was surveilled until 2003 for all-cause mortality. Physician supply densities in 1991 and 2001 were computed for 49 Ontario regions.

Processes and outcomes of care for soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities.

Purpose: A population-based cohort study of soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities (STSE) in Ontario, Canada was conducted using linked administrative databases.

Methods And Materials: Electronic administrative databases were linked from the Ontario Cancer Registry, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and Radiation Oncology Research Unit database of radiation therapy (RT) records.

Results: The definitive surgery was amputation for 6.

Cancer survival in Ontario, 1986-2003: evidence of equitable advances across most diverse urban and rural places.

Objectives: This study examined whether place and socio-economic status had differential effects on the survival of women diagnosed with breast cancer in Ontario during the 1980s and the 1990s.

Methods: The Ontario Cancer Registry provided 29,934 primary malignant breast cancer cases. Successive historical cohorts (1986-1988 and 1995-1997) were, respectively, followed until 1994 and 2003.

Palliative Care Integration Project (PCIP) quality improvement strategy evaluation.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of implementation of common assessment tools, collaborative care plans, and symptom management guidelines for cancer patients as a strategy to improve the quality, coordination, and integration of palliative care service across organizations and health care sectors. A pre-post design to measure the impact on symptom management, caregiver burden and satisfaction with care delivery, and service utilization was used. Two cohorts of eligible patients and caregivers completed Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scales, Caregiver Reaction Assessment and FAMCARE Scales and chart audits were conducted.

Increased racial differences on breast cancer care and survival in America: historical evidence consistent with a health insurance hypothesis, 1975-2001.

Purpose: This study examined whether race/ethnicity had differential effects on breast cancer care and survival across age strata and cohorts within stages of disease.

Methods: The Detroit Cancer Registry provided 25,997 breast cancer cases. African American and non-Hispanic white, older Medicare-eligible and younger non-eligible women were compared.

Accuracy assessment of prediction in patient outcomes.

In order to provide effective health care to patients, clinicians must rely on their ability to accurately diagnose disease and to prognosticate the outcomes. Prognostic studies have received considerable attention in health science and medicine in relation to patient outcomes. However, little effort has been spent on evaluating prognostic accuracy.