Better Together: Social Contact and Loneliness Among U.S. Older Adults During COVID-19.

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in older adults' greater reliance on technology to contact friends and families. However, less is known regarding the association between frequency of varying modes of communication and loneliness among older adults during COVID-19, and current findings are mixed. Therefore, this study aimed to advance this understanding.

With a Little Help From My Friends and Family: Transportation and Caregiving Hours.

Objectives: To better understand the associations between the driving status of the care recipient and caregiver with provided caregiving hours, more research on the relationships between contextual caregiving factors and driving-related behaviors is needed.

Method: Using data from Round 7 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the linked National Survey of Caregiving (NSOC; = 1054 dyads), this study explored how caregiver transportation assistance and care recipient driving frequency are associated with caregiving hours.

Results: Caregiving hours were highest among caregivers who provided transportation every day and among care recipients who had not driven in the last month.

Planning for Driving Retirement: The Effect of Driving Perceptions, Driving Events, and Assessment of Driving Alternatives.

Most older adults will eventually stop driving, but few engage in planning for driving retirement. This study assessed whether driving stress, enjoyment, confidence, concerning driving events, and assessment of driving alternatives influence planning. Demographic factors were also included.

The Influence of Hearing Impairment on Driving Avoidance Among a Large Cohort of Older Drivers.

As people age, some of the commonly experienced psychomotor, visual, and cognitive declines can interfere with the ability to safely drive, often leading to situational avoidance of challenging driving situations. The effect of hearing impairment on these avoidance behaviors has not been comprehensively studied. Data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study were used to assess the effect of hearing impairment on driving avoidance, using three measures of hearing.

Family Satisfaction: Differences Between Nursing Homes and Residential Care Facilities.

This study compared differences in overall family satisfaction, specific satisfaction domains, and correlates of satisfaction between nursing homes (NHs) and residential care facilities (RCFs), using data from the 2016 Ohio Long-Term Care Family Satisfaction Survey. Satisfaction was higher for RCFs overall and within nearly every domain, with the largest difference observed in the domain. In both facility types, higher satisfaction was associated with male respondents, older respondent age, White race, less-frequent visitation, longer anticipated length of stay, less help provided during visits, smaller facilities, lower Medicaid-reliant resident percentage, and nonprofit status.