Being in Place: Toward a Situational Perspective on Care.

An optimum focus in any care situation is creating and sustaining environments that facilitate an ongoing sense of "being in place" for all involved. Using this rationale, we propose a Situational Model of Care for exploring dynamic relationships among aging persons receiving care, the convoy of persons offering this care and support, and the place where this occurs, as evolving situations throughout the course of a disease. The model is grounded in extant literature and illustrated through a case study derived from in-home observations and interviews.

Sensory Processing Abnormalities in Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: A Mixed Methods Study.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia often leads to behavioral and psychiatric symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Sensory processing abnormalities may be associated with BPSD. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among sensory processing, behavior, and environmental features within the homes of people with MCI or dementia.

Clinical geography: A proposal to embrace space, place and wellbeing through person-centered practice.

This essay envisions how geography can operationalize nuanced understandings of space and place to enrich the lives of individuals across the lifespan. We propose a focused integration of geography into person-centered practice: a clinical geography dedicated to working directly with people to promote optimal physical and mental health outcomes and wellbeing. Our proposal integrates spatial modifications to facilitate access and utility, behavioral interventions to maximize effectiveness in using space, and therapeutic engagement to nurture a deeper sense of 'being in place' that enhances wellbeing and quality of life.

Toward a Regional Gerontological Agenda: The Use of Empowerment Evaluation.

This article describes the application of an empowerment evaluation approach to nurturing the growth and priority setting of a regional organization. A model is provided of the processes whereby the Southern Gerontological Society (SGS) identified research and service priorities by conducting a survey of stakeholder perceptions of regional needs. The survey goal was to identify important issues faced by older adults in the South as a prelude to refining SGS research and service priorities and developing its contemporary regional gerontological agenda.

Positive Psychological Change Following a Cancer Diagnosis in Old Age: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Background: Despite the stress inherent in a cancer diagnosis, many cancer survivors report benefits, including perceptions of personal growth and well-being. Among adults 60 years or older, for whom cancer diagnoses are most prevalent, there is a notable lack of research on positive psychological change.

Objective: This mixed-methods study was designed to advance current understanding of positive psychology (ie, posttraumatic growth, well-being) in older adults with cancer.

Behaviors Characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Geriatric Cohort With Mild Cognitive Impairment or Early Dementia.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a heterogenous cluster of clinical phenotypes that are classically diagnosed by the time of adolescence. The possibility of late-life emergence of ASD has been poorly explored.

Methods: To more fully characterize the possibility of late-life emergence of behaviors characteristic of ASD in mild cognitive impairment and AD, we surveyed caregivers of 142 older persons with cognitive impairment from the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center Longitudinal Cohort using the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2.

Exploring college students' attitudes toward older adults: A description of methods used by the gerontological literacy network.

Recognizing the pervasiveness of negative societal attitudes toward aging and older adults is critical, as research indicates how older adults are viewed subsequently influences how they are treated. The Gerontological Literacy Network (GLN) is a multi-university collaboration established to address ingrained beliefs that underlie ageism and gerontophobia. The GLN developed a data-gathering protocol that uses drawing as a foundation to assess the gerontological literacy of college students.

"It Doesn't Require Much Effort Once You Get to Know Them": Certified Nursing Assistants' Views of Communication in Long-Term Care.

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) provide the majority of hands-on care and become highly sensitive to residents' communication behaviors. Yet, CNAs feel disempowered when communicating residents' concerns to higher levels of authority. A grounded theory approach using focus group interviews with 23 CNAs was used to describe the communication environment in long-term care (LTC) and explore CNAs' perceptions of the acceptability of communication plans, a recent Canadian intervention to facilitate resident-staff communication.

Patient's perception of quality patient--provider communication.

Purpose: To develop a model of patients' perception of quality patient-healthcare provider communication.

Methods/sample: Fifteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis participated in in-depth, audiorecorded interviews. Following transcription verification, interviews were analyzed using constant comparative analysis to identify primary themes and develop a model of patients' perception of quality patient-healthcare provider communication.

Geriatric education in the health professions: are we making progress?

Purpose: Relative to the overall population, older adults consume a disproportionally large percentage of health care resources. Despite advocacy and efforts initiated more than 30 years ago, the number of providers with specialized training in geriatrics is still not commensurate with the growing population of older adults. This contribution provides a contemporary update on the status of geriatric education and explores how geriatric coverage is valued, how geriatric competence is defined, and how students are evaluated for geriatric competencies.

Toward a physical environmental continuum for occupational intervention in a rehabilitation hospital.

ABSTRACT A study was conducted to explore occupational therapists' perceptions of rehabilitation environments and the influence of these perceptions on practice and occupational interventions. Traditionally, inpatient occupational therapists have a choice of intervention environments, ranging from a gym-like to a more home-like setting. Choosing to provide interventions in these different environments can have an impact on occupational performance.

Patient-provider communication: understanding diabetes management among adult females.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore how adult women manage their diabetes. Recommendations for improving adherence and opportunities to maximize communication between the healthcare provider and individuals who have type 2 diabetes also were described.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative descriptive design was used to describe the experience of living with type 2 diabetes in adult females.