A systematic review of measures of ability to meet basic needs in older persons.

Background: The ability of older persons to meet their basic needs (i.e. personal, financial and housing security), as well as to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL), is crucial.

Early Australian neuroscientists and the tyranny of distance.

Australian neuroscientists at the turn of the twentieth century and in the succeeding decades faced formidable obstacles to communication and supply due to their geographical isolation from centers of learning in Europe and North America. Consequently, they had to spend significant periods of their lives overseas for training and experience. The careers of six pioneers-Laura Forster, James Wilson, Grafton Elliot Smith, Alfred Campbell, Raymond Dart, and John Eccles-are presented in the form of vignettes that address their lives and most enduring scientific contributions.

The interRAI COVID-19 vulnerability screener: Results of a health surveillance initiative for vulnerable adults in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, the interRAI COVID-19 Vulnerability Screener (CVS) was used to identify community-dwelling older adults or adults with disabilities at risk of negative outcomes and facilitate triage for follow-up with health/social services. The interRAI CVS, a standardized self-report instrument administered virtually by a lay-person, includes COVID-19-related items and psychosocial and physical vulnerability. Our objective was to describe those assessed and identify sub-groups at highest risk of adverse outcomes.

A brief history of the Australasian Neuroscience Society.

The collective efforts of Australasian neuroscientists over the past 50 years to forge a binational presence are reviewed in this article. The events in the 1970s leading to the formation of an informal Australian Neurosciences Society are discussed in the context of the international emergence of neuroscience as an interdisciplinary science. Thereafter, the establishment in 1980 of the Australian Neuroscience Society, subsequently renamed as the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS), is described.

Psychometric Properties, Feasibility, and Acceptability of the Self-Reported interRAI Check-Up Assessment.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and psychometric properties of the self-report version of the interRAI Check-Up (CUSR).

Design: Cross-sectional study of participant ratings of item content and difficulty completing the CUSR. Participants were also randomly assigned to complete the assessment by themselves or with help from a lay interviewer.

The need to incorporate the impact of population ageing into the post-COVID-19 policy and planning reset in Low and Middle Income Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to widen the health care demand-supply gap, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The virus has had the greatest impact on older persons in terms of morbidity and mortality, and is occurring at a time of rapid population ageing, which is happening three times faster in LMICs than in high-income countries. Addressing the demand-supply gap in a post-COVID-19 era, in which resources are further constrained, will require a major 'reset' of the health system.

Proceedings from an International Virtual Townhall: Reflecting on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Themes from Long-Term Care.

Residents of long-term care (LTC) homes have suffered disproportionately during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the virus itself and often from the imposition of lockdown measures. Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario, in collaboration with interRAI and the International Federation on Aging, hosted a virtual Town Hall on September 25, 2020. The purpose of this event was to bring together international perspectives from researchers, clinicians, and policy experts to address important themes potentially amenable to timely policy interventions.

Life under the COVID-19 lockdown: On the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and psychological distress.

Objective: One of the significant features of the recent lockdown caused by the coronavirus 2019 coronavirus pandemic was the lengthy period of uncertainty that accompanied it. The present study examined a moderated model that links conditions of uncertainty with psychological distress during the coronavirus 2019 lockdown.

Method: Married parents in Israel (N = 186), all of whom were working at home during the lockdown, completed several measures, including those assessing intolerance of uncertainty (IU), psychological distress, dispositional optimism, and work arrangements at home.

Living in fear: The relationship between fear of COVID-19, distress, health, and marital satisfaction among Israeli women.

After the COVID-19 virus was officially declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the Israeli government adopted lockdown restrictions to limit its spread. The purpose of the present article is to examine the impact of this disturbing environment on Israeli women. Specifically, we examined whether fear of the virus would impact the women's distress symptoms, self-rated health (SRH), and marital satisfaction.

"Establishing the criterion validity of the interRAI Check-Up Self-Report instrument".

Background: Low and middle-income countries have growing older populations and could benefit from the use of multi-domain geriatric assessments in overcoming the challenge of providing quality health services to older persons. This paper reports on the outcomes of a study carried out in Cape Town, South Africa on the validity of the interRAI Check-Up Self-Report instrument, a multi-domain assessment instrument designed to screen older persons in primary health settings. This is the first criterion validity study of the instrument.

A validated survey to measure household food waste.

To assess household food waste in large-scale studies with the aim to understand differences in food waste levels between households, surveys are often employed. Yet, survey measures rely on people's awareness of their own food waste levels, draw upon their memory of instances of food waste, and can be subject to social desirability. Therefore, existing survey measures may not be optimal in measuring household food waste.

Colonisation with pathogenic drug-resistant bacteria and among residents of residential care facilities in Cape Town, South Africa: a cross-sectional prevalence study.

Background: Residential care facilities (RCFs) act as reservoirs for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO). There are scarce data on colonisation with MDROs in Africa. We aimed to determine the prevalence of MDROs and and risk factors for carriage amongst residents of RCFs in Cape Town, South Africa.

Peer-to-peer support model to improve quality of life among highly vulnerable, low-income older adults in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: Developing countries are experiencing rapid population ageing. Many do not have the resources or formal structures available to support the health and wellbeing of people as they age. In other contexts, the use of peer support programmes have shown favourable outcomes in terms of reducing loneliness, increasing physical activity and managing chronic disease.

"They don't care about us": older people's experiences of primary healthcare in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: As older people age, they have different health needs compared to younger people. South African elder care policy places a strong emphasis on ageing in community rather than institutional settings, but the primary healthcare system is not geared to address the health needs of older people living in community settings.

Methods: This paper presents findings of nine focus groups conducted with community-dwelling older adults in three areas (high, medium and low-income) in Cape Town, South Africa over 2 months in 2017.

A qualitative examination of policy and structural factors driving care workers' adverse experiences in long-term residential care facilities for the older adults in Cape Town.

Background: There is lack of adequate training and policy support for employed care workers (CWs) employed in the South African (SA) older persons' sector. Existing literature neglects the influence of training and policy support on CWs' experiences in long-term care (LTC) for older adults in residential care facilities (RCFs). We investigated the ways in which CWs' experiences are rooted in the lack of adequate training and policy support.

Population ageing in South Africa: trends, impact, and challenges for the health sector.

With more South Africans living past the age of 60, the country faces a growing chronic disease burden. Further research and action are needed for the health system to address the budgetary and social strains of this phenomenon effectively.

Hearing the Voice of the Resident in Long-Term Care Facilities-An Internationally Based Approach to Assessing Quality of Life.

Objectives: interRAI launched this study to introduce a set of standardized self-report measures through which residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) could describe their quality of life and services. This article reports on the international development effort, describing measures relative to privacy, food, security, comfort, autonomy, respect, staff responsiveness, relationships with staff, friendships, and activities. First, we evaluated these items individually and then combined them in summary scales.

Predictors of Responsivity to Interdisciplinary Pain Management.

Objective: This study investigated for whom interdisciplinary pain management (IPM) is most effective. Identification of predictors of treatment responsivity would facilitate development of patient-treatment matching algorithms to optimize outcomes.

Design: Repeated measures prospective study of consecutive admissions to a two-week IPM program.

Medical school accreditation in China: a Sino-Australian collaboration.

In 2008, China established a medical school accreditation process based on international standards and guidelines. Twenty schools had been accredited by 2013 and it is intended to accredit all 137 schools by 2020. To achieve this ambitious aim, Chinese medical educators have entered into collaboration with their Australian counterparts, engendered by mutual membership of the Association for Medical Education in the Western Pacific Region, a regional division of the World Federation for Medical Education.

A brief history of medical education and training in Australia.

Medical education and training in Australia comprises four phases: basic education, prevocational training, vocational training and continuing professional development. Between the 1860s and 1960s, eight medical schools were established in Australia, admitting school leavers to courses comprised of preclinical, paraclinical and clinical phases. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, two innovative new schools were established and all schools made major reforms to student selection, curricula and teaching, learning and assessment methods.