Health Promotion in Early-Stage Dementia: A Focused Ethnographic Study of a 12-Week Group-Based Educational Intervention.

Introduction: Educational health promotion interventions for people with early-stage dementia have shown promising results, including empowering the person with dementia to live well and cope with their condition.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore how group interactions, course structure, and facilitation by healthcare professionals in a 12-week educational health promotion course promote coping, healthy behaviors, and empowerment in people with early-stage dementia.

Method: A focused ethnographic approach was employed, collecting data through moderate participant observations of people with early-stage dementia who attended the health promotion course and field conversations with the facilitators.

Self-reported sleep fragmentation and sleep duration and their association with cognitive function in PROTECT, a large digital community-based cohort of people over 50.

Objective: Sleep is vital for normal cognitive function in daily life, but is commonly disrupted in older adults. Poor sleep can be detrimental to mental and physical health, including cognitive function. This study assessed the association between self-reported short (<6 h) and long (>9 h) sleep duration and sleep fragmentation (3≥ nightly awakenings) in cognitive function.

A data-driven examination of apathy and depressive symptoms in dementia with independent replication.

Unlabelled: Apathy is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Research that helps define the apathy phenotype is urgently needed, particularly for clinical and biomarker studies. We used latent class analysis (LCA) with two independent cohorts to understand how apathy and depression symptoms co-occur statistically.

Healthcare utilisation, physical activity and mental health during COVID-19 lockdown: an interrupted time-series analysis of older adults in England.

Unlabelled: COVID-19 measures which reduce interpersonal contact may be effective in containing the transmission, but their impacts on peoples' well-being and daily lives overtime remain unclear. Older adults are more vulnerable to both the virus and social isolation. It is therefore imperative to understand how they were affected during this period.

Awareness of age-related changes in Norwegian individuals 50+. Short form questionnaire validation.

Background: A questionnaire assessing awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) was developed in the US and Germany, and validated for the UK and Brazilian populations. In this study, we validated the short-form measure (AARC-10 SF) in the Norwegian population aged 50 and over. In addition, the relationship between cognitive variables and AARC was examined.

Healthcare utilisation and physical activities for older adults with comorbidities in the UK during COVID-19.

A major concern with COVID-19 was the impact it would have on individual health, the routine use of healthcare services, and physical activities, especially for older adults with comorbidities. To address this, we studied the association between these variables for older adults during the pandemic. To explore what policy instruments might be effective in mitigating the negative impacts, we investigated the effects of a shielding notice for those identified as vulnerable by the government and social media given it has been an important source for disseminating information of COVID-19.

Investigating the effects of impairment in non-verbal communication on neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life of people living with dementia.

Introduction: People living with dementia in nursing homes have complex needs; impairments in cognition, communication, and daily function; neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS); and poor quality of life (QoL). The current study examines impairments in non-verbal communication as a potential driver of NPS and QoL.

Methods: One hundred nursing home residents with dementia were assessed using the Emory Dyssemia Index (EDI), Neuropsychiatric Inventory Nursing Home version (NPI-NH), Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD) at baseline, 12-, and 24-week follow-up.

Loneliness, physical activity, and mental health during COVID-19: a longitudinal analysis of depression and anxiety in adults over the age of 50 between 2015 and 2020.

Objective: Loneliness and physical activity are important targets for research into the impact of COVID-19 because they have established links with mental health, could be exacerbated by social distancing policies, and are potentially modifiable. In this study, we aimed to identify whether loneliness and physical activity were associated with worse mental health during a period of mandatory social distancing in the UK.

Design: Population-based observational cohort study.

Health promotion intervention for people with early-stage dementia: A quasi-experimental study.

Introduction: With the limited advancements in medical treatment, there is a growing need for supporting people with early-stage dementia adjust to their diagnosis and improve their quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 12-week health promotion course for people with early-stage dementia.

Methods: Quasi-experimental, single group, pretest-posttest design.

Self-management and HeAlth Promotion in Early-stage dementia with e-learning for carers (SHAPE): study protocol for a multi-centre randomised controlled trial.

Background: With an increasing number of people with dementia worldwide and limited advancement in medical treatments, the call for new and cost-effective approaches is crucial. The utility of self-management has been proven in certain chronic conditions. However, very little work has been undertaken regarding self-management in people with dementia.

The association between aspects of carer distress and time until nursing home admission in persons with Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the association between specific aspects of carer distress and time until nursing home admission (NHA) in people with mild dementia.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Participants were recruited from the Dementia Study of Western Norway (DemVest).

Health Care Personnel's Perspective on Potential Electronic Health Interventions to Prevent Hospitalizations for Older Persons Receiving Community Care: Qualitative Study.

Background: The use of electronic health (eHealth) interventions is suggested to help monitor and treat degenerative and chronic diseases through the use of sensors, alarms, and reminders and can potentially prevent hospitalizations for home-dwelling older persons receiving community care. It is increasingly recognized that the health care personnel's acceptance of a technological application remains a key challenge in adopting an intervention, thus interventions must be perceived to be useful and fit for purpose by the actual users.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and explore the perspectives of managers and health care personnel in community care regarding the use of eHealth interventions in terms of prevention of hospitalizations for home-dwelling older persons receiving community care.

Nutritional Interventions for Persons With Early-Stage Dementia or Alzheimer's Disease: An Integrative Review.

Persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are at particular risk of malnutrition and weight loss. Clinical research concerning the role and impact of nutritional intervention in early-stage ADRD, specifically on cognition and key symptoms such as behavior, is less straightforward. Thus, an integrative review was conducted to examine the literature pertaining to nutritional interventions for persons with ADRD and to make recommendations for priority areas for future research and practice.

The association between specific neuropsychiatric disturbances in people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies and carer distress.

Objective: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are identified as important care-recipient variables in terms of the impact on carer distress. The aim of this study was to determine whether specific neuropsychiatric disturbances in people with Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) differentially impact carer distress.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of people diagnosed with AD and DLB and their primary carers.

What influences the sustainability of an effective psychosocial intervention for people with dementia living in care homes? A 9 to 12-month follow-up of the perceptions of staff in care homes involved in the WHELD randomised controlled trail.

Objectives: The study aims to understand the factors that care home staff felt enabled or hindered them in continuing to use the well-being and health for people with dementia (WHELD) psychosocial approach in their care home and investigate whether there was sustained activity 9 to 12 months after the study ended.

Methods: This qualitative study is part of a wider clinical trial, which demonstrated effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention on quality of life outcomes and neuropsychiatric symptoms for residents. Forty-seven care home staff within nine care homes in the United Kingdom participated in focus groups, between 9 and 12 months after the intervention had finished.

The Effect of a Multicomponent Intervention on Quality of Life in Residents of Nursing Homes: A Randomized Controlled Trial (COSMOS).

Objectives: To investigate if the multicomponent intervention of the COSMOS trial, combining communication, systematic pain management, medication review, and activities, improved quality of life (QoL) in nursing home patients with complex needs.

Design: Multicenter, cluster-randomized, single-blinded, controlled trial.

Setting: Thirty-three nursing homes with 67 units (clusters) from 8 Norwegian municipalities.

"We should see her like part of the team": an investigation into care home staff's experiences of being part of an RCT of a complex psychosocial intervention.

To contribute to improvements in the design and delivery of intervention research in care homes by adopting a collaborative approach that listens to the experiences of care home staff who had participated in a clinical trial aimed at optimising and evaluating a psychosocial intervention package for people with dementia. Qualitative study involving focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 41 staff across 6 care homes with the UK. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify themes and interpret the data.

Porcelain for All - a nursing home study.

Purpose: The Porcelain for All project was an initiative by Figgjo AS, a porcelain factory in Norway, which needed more research on different coloured porcelains. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach: The study aimed to gain new knowledge about how different décor and dinner plate colours can positively influence dementia sufferer food intake and appetite.

Characteristics and predictors for hospitalizations of home-dwelling older persons receiving community care: a cohort study from Norway.

Background: Older persons are substantial consumers of both hospital- and community care, and there are discussions regarding the potential for preventing hospitalizations through high quality community care. The present study report prevalence and factors associated with admissions to hospital for community-dwelling older persons (> 67 years of age), receiving community care in a Norwegian municipality.

Methods: This was a cohort study of 1531 home-dwelling persons aged ≥67 years, receiving community care.

Patterns of carer distress over time in mild dementia.

Objective: To study the level of carer reported distress in mild dementia, over a 3-year period.

Methods: This study is part of the Norwegian DemVest-study and utilises data from carers of people with mild dementia (n = 223). Those diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, n = 63) and Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 97) were included together with other dementia types (n = 63).

Impact of person-centred care training and person-centred activities on quality of life, agitation, and antipsychotic use in people with dementia living in nursing homes: A cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Agitation is a common, challenging symptom affecting large numbers of people with dementia and impacting on quality of life (QoL). There is an urgent need for evidence-based, cost-effective psychosocial interventions to improve these outcomes, particularly in the absence of safe, effective pharmacological therapies. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a person-centred care and psychosocial intervention incorporating an antipsychotic review, WHELD, on QoL, agitation, and antipsychotic use in people with dementia living in nursing homes, and to determine its cost.

Person-centered care in Norwegian nursing homes and its relation to organizational factors and staff characteristics: a cross-sectional survey.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTBackground:Person-centered care (PCC) is regarded as good quality care for persons with dementia. This study aimed to explore and understand the association between PCC and organizational, staff and unit characteristics in nursing homes (NHs).

Methods: Staff from 175 NH units in Norway (n = 1,161) completed a survey, including measures of PCC and questions about staff characteristics and work-related psychosocial factors.