Effectiveness of chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) programs to reduce loneliness.

Objectives: With about half of older adults reporting feelings of loneliness, interventions are needed to improve connectedness among our aging population. The health benefits of Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (CDSME) programs are well documented, but workshops' ability to reduce loneliness remains unknown.

Methods: Using the Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool, we examined 295 CDSME participants' loneliness changes before and after the 6-week face-to-face workshops.

Linking Technology to Address the Social and Medical Determinants of Health for Safe Medicines Use.

Objectives: Both social and medical factors can negatively affect health outcomes, especially in vulnerable populations. To address these 2 types of factors in a postdischarge population, 2 nonprofit organizations collaborated to combine their novel decision support programs and address the question: Could combined programs have greater potential for improved health outcomes?

Methods: HomeMeds, a social health program in which trained social services staff make home visits to vulnerable clients, was combined with MedSafety Scan, a medical health, clinical decision support tool. Data captured in the home visits were entered into the HomeMeds and MedSafety Scan programs to detect those patients at the greatest risk of adverse health outcomes because of medications.

A Collaboration Among Primary Care-Based Clinical Pharmacists and Community-Based Health Coaches.

Background/objectives: Medication discrepancies and adverse drug events are common following hospital discharge. This study evaluates whether a collaboration between community-based health coaches and primary care-based pharmacists was associated with a reduction in inpatient utilization following hospitalization.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using propensity score matching.

Social Work Gerontological Practice: The Need for Faculty Development in the New Millennium.

There is a pressing need to upgrade the gerontological knowledge and skills of practicing social workers. Geriatrics and gerontology, as specialized fields of knowledge, have not been sufficiently integrated into formal academic training programs. There are major trends in the health care environment which impact on social work education, including technological advances, a shift from inpatient to outpatient and community care settings, increasing diversity of the older population, and client and family participation in decisionmaking.

Motivating high-risk older adults to exercise: does coaching matter?

The aim of the study was to compare two coaching channels--a combination of telephone and face-to-face coaching (combined phone and face-to-face) versus telephone coaching only (phone)--on exercise performances in a home-based low-intensity program. Multiple regression models were used to examine if the two coaching channels were associated with different 3-month posttest exercise performances. Individuals with the combined phone and face-to-face coaches had better exercise performances at 3-month posttest, compared to those who received phone coaching only.

Results from the Healthy Moves for Aging Well program: changes of the health outcomes.

The Healthy Moves for Aging Well program piloted a home-based, low-intensity strength exercise program that targeted a nursing home certifiable, ethnically diverse sample of community-residing adults aged 65 and older. This study examined the effectiveness of the Healthy Moves program in reducing participants' number of falls, fear of falling, depression, and pain. Results indicated that participants (n = 338) had statistically significant declines in the number of falls and level of pain.

The role of consultant pharmacists in reducing medication problems among older adults receiving Medicaid waiver services.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an evidence-based, medication management intervention to reduce four targeted medication problems among older adults at risk for placement in a nursing facility.

Design: A pretest-posttest design.

Setting: Three sites of California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), a Medi-Cal waiver care management program.

Characteristics associated with four potential medication problems among older adults in Medicaid waiver services.

Objective: To identify characteristics associated with four potential medication problems among older adults at risk for nursing home placement.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Three sites of California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), a Medi-Cal waiver care management program.

Prevalence of potential medication problems among dually eligible older adults in Medicaid waiver services.

Background: Methods for identifying potential medication problems among older adults at risk for nursing home placement have generally not included clinical risk factors in addition to medication lists.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of potential medication problems for older adults enrolled in a Medicaid waiver service using tested Home Health Criteria that combine medication use and clinical risk factors for screening drug regimens.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey screened 615 community-dwelling, dually eligible, functionally impaired adults aged 65 years and older enrolled in a Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid) waiver care management program, California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP).

Developing geriatric social work competencies for field education.

Preparing social workers to effectively practice with the growing older population requires the identification of geriatric competencies for the profession. The John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative provided the impetus and direction for a national strategy to improve the quality of preparation of geriatric social workers.

Translating evidence-based physical activity interventions for frail elders.

The population shift to an older America has initiated a great deal of interest in the impact of evidence-based physical activity interventions on older adults. Physical activity for older adults has tremendous benefits and is recognized as one of the most powerful health interventions for improving seniors' ability to function and remain independent in the face of active health problems and yet the majority of all older adults remain largely sedentary. To date, few programs have been developed that apply these important research findings in physical activity to frail older adults living in the community.

Kaiser Permanente community partners project: improving geriatric care management practices.

This article describes a geriatric care management project that is testing whether geriatric care management plus a brief purchase of service (POS) intervention will lower medical costs, improve satisfaction with care, increase care plan adherence, and improve perceived quality of life. Kaiser Permanente members aged 65 and older who were eligible for geriatric care management and consented to participate in the study were randomized to one of four study groups: information and referral via mail, telephone care management, geriatric care management, or geriatric care management with POS capability. The POS intervention provides up to $2,000 of designated, paid services including in-home supportive services, transportation, respite, or medical equipment within the first 6 months of care management enrollment.