Routinization: risk factor or marker of adjustment to negative health issues?

Objectives: Routinization reflects how older people cope with the health problems. It remains to be seen whether it should be considered as a risk factor of negative health outcomes, or rather, a mechanism of adjustment to health issues: mortality, institutionalization, dementia, disability, cognitive decline, depression and subjective health.

Methods: From longitudinal data of two large-scale French epidemiological studies, the study sample consists of 961 participants aged 77 years on average, living at home and with no neurocognitive disorder.

[Memory(ies) at risk…].

When an elderly person suffers from severe memory problems, it is useful to look at the behaviour of those around him or her. Serious "absences" can be observed, revealing an intergenerational memory at risk.

Validation of Short Form of Preferences for Routines Scale: Norms in Older Adults.

High level of preferences for routines is an indicator of psychological vulnerability in older adults. However, the psychometric properties of the Preferences for Routines Scale (PRS) initially validated in a small selected sample of older adults revealed a low Cronbach's α (.50) in the general elderly population.

[Access to care and precariousness of the elderly, complex and… simple responses].

The theme of access to care for the elderly brings us into the susceptibility to precariousness-made precarious-precarious debate. The answers are necessarily complex; but the simplest ones are not to be overlooked. It is possible to propose some ideas based on the experience of the DomCare team.

[Caregivers in geriatrics: burnout and loss of meaning].

The burnout of caregivers in geriatrics reveals a serious loss of meaning: that of 'ageing', of the status and the function of old age in the process and orientation of life. Faced with this challenge, the key is to find meaning in one's work. In geriatrics in particular, caregivers play a valuable role of 'conveyor'.

[The PASA, a unique place of interconnection].

The PASA, a centre for adapted activities and care, enables nursing homes to become places of progress and innovation in the management of residents suffering from Alzheimer's disease and related conditions. The multidisciplinary approach and the convergence of new perspectives enables some to revive essential threads of their identity, and others to evolve and build themselves through more rewarding experiences.

Short STAI-Y anxiety scales: validation and normative data for elderly subjects.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop short forms of the STAI-Y trait and state scales and associated norms suitable for the screening of anxiety in elderly populations.

Method: This study was based on population-based cohorts of older persons from two epidemiological French studies that each included one subscale of the STAI-Y, i.e.

[Construct and validation of a quality of life's scale for older French people].

Given changing and subjective aspects of quality of life, the current assessment scales are often encompassing and not very adapted for older people. Thus, the present validation study has several objectives: 1) To elaborate a specific measure of the quality of life of older people, given the characteristics and problems of this population; 2) To propose a simple scale to use for any health care professional and fast passation to encourage the inclusion of such measures in the framework of a comprehensive care of the elderly; 3) To validate this scale in a large cohort of retired older farmers. This scale resulted in 14 items illustrating the various dimensions of quality of life of older people.

Impact of interpersonal factors on insight in schizophrenia.

Whereas clinical insight in schizophrenia has been consistently associated with personal factors (i.e. sociodemographic characteristics, symptoms or cognition), little is known about its relationships with interpersonal factors (i.

Restriction in instrumental activities of daily living in older persons: association with preferences for routines and psychological vulnerability.

Disabilities in the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) are frequently observed in older adults. A restriction in the daily life activities in the elderly may be related to a process of routinization induced by homogenization of activities, in addition to its association with emotional states. The relationship between level of functional disability for IADLs and preferences for routines was explored in 207 non-demented French participants (Mage = 84.

Daily life functioning of community-dwelling elderly couples: an investigation of the feasibility and validity of Ecological Momentary Assessment.

Although ambulatory data collection techniques have been used in elderly populations, their feasibility and validity amongst elderly individuals with cognitive impairment and amongst couples remains unexplored. The main objective of this study is to examine the validity of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) in elderly persons with or without cognitive impairment and their spouses. The sample included 58 retired farmers (mean 77.

Psychosocial correlates of nutritional status of family caregivers of persons with dementia.

Background: This exploratory study investigated the associations of individual characteristics of both persons with dementia and family caregivers with the nutritional status of caregivers.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at home by psychogerontologist within the frame of a community gerontological center in rural areas of south west France. The study participants comprised 56 community-dwelling persons with dementia (mean 80.

State anxiety and cognitive functioning in older adults.

Objective: To assess the relationship between state anxiety and performance on neuropsychological tests in older adults.

Methods: Nine hundred fifty-five community-dwelling individuals without dementia age 66 and over were evaluated at home by a psychologist. State anxiety was measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y.

Nutritional status of community-dwelling older people with dementia: associations with individual and family caregivers' characteristics.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the associations of individual characteristics of both older people with dementia and family caregivers with the nutritional status of older people with dementia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study comprising 56 community-dwelling older persons with dementia and 56 family caregivers was conducted at home by a psychogerontologist working for a community gerontological center. Older people with dementia were assessed with Mini mental state examination, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and NeuroPsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and family caregivers with the Burden Interview (Zarit scale), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the emotional impact measure of NPI.

The STAI-Y trait scale: psychometric properties and normative data from a large population-based study of elderly people.

Background: Whereas the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) is probably the most widely used self-reported measure of anxiety, the lack of current norms among elderly people appears to be problematic in both a clinical and research context. The objective of the present study was to provide normative data for the STAI-Y trait scale from a large elderly cohort and to identify the main sociodemographic and health-related determinants of trait anxiety.

Methods: The STAI-Y trait scale was completed by 7,538 community-dwelling participants aged 65 years and over from the "Three City" epidemiological study.

Norms and associated factors of the STAI-Y State anxiety inventory in older adults: results from the PAQUID study.

Background: The latest version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) is commonly used in older adults, even though this anxiety scale was developed in and for young adults. Norms and associated factors of the STAI-Y are lacking for older adults in the general population. The objectives of the present study were to produce norms on the STAI-Y State scale for older adults using a large sample of older adults selected from a general population and to examine the sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with the STAI-Y State score.

Encoding processes influence word-stem completion priming in Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis.

Despite the numerous studies focused on priming performances in Alzheimer's disease (AD), the question of whether word-stem completion priming persists in AD is still prone to controversy. Methodological variations, such as encoding instructions, have been proposed to explain the discrepancy of word-stem completion priming results in AD. We conducted a meta-analysis on 678 AD patients and 640 controls to assess whether word-stem completion priming in AD differs according to instructions provided at encoding.

Gender-related differences in visuospatial memory persist in Alzheimer's disease.

Gender differences in visuospatial cognition favoring men are larger in tasks requiring active information manipulation than in tasks requiring passive storage. This study was designed to determine whether male advantage in active manipulation of visuospatial information can still be evidenced in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty male and 20 female AD patients with equivalent age, education, dementia severity (Mini-Mental State Examination and Mattis Dementia Rating Scale), and visual discrimination abilities were recruited.

[Aging and routinization: a review].

The concept of routinization in the elderly is defined as the performance of environmental, behavioral, and social activities, in the same manner over time. First, routines are described from a developmental point of view and a multidisciplinary approach. Second, the development of this concept in recent studies is analyzed.

[Using the SHiPA with the elderly: a person-centered approach].

Qualitative differences in control, distance and relationship with other people were examined using multidimensional and configurational analyses with data from the SHiPA. The SHiPA, developed by Bouisson (2005), contributes to inform on psychological functioning the elderly, using open responses, no limited into choices, and assesses some aspects of distress and adaptative resources in common daily life events that are frequently causes of difficulties. Based on scores in differential weighting of SHiPA dimensions, multivariate analyses revealed five psychological functioning profiles, characterized by anxiety, depression, cognition, internality, satisfaction with life, and routinization levels.

[Burn out of formal carers in geriatric facilities].

From a person-centered perspective, this study investigates the relationship between burn out and anxiety-depression, among geriatric caregivers, according to the helplessness-hopelessness theory. The population studied consists of 150 caregivers, drawn from different geriatric facilities throughout France. Data was collected from three self-administered questionnaires: the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) measures burn out, whereas the STAI measures anxiety and the CES-D assesses symptoms of depression.

Routinization and emotional well-being: an experience sampling investigation in an elderly French sample.

This investigation examined the predictive validity of routinization preference measures, as well as the association of routinization to state affect in daily life. The authors collected naturalistic repeated observations from elderly participants living in private residences or retirement homes. Preferences for routinization were significantly associated with the repetition of both behaviors and environmental contexts.