Developing, implementing, and evaluating the first national Memory and Cognition Clinic Guidelines in Australia.

Introduction: A lack of national consensus on the roles and responsibilities of Australian memory and cognition clinics contributes to the large variability seen across services. The introduction of guidelines and a quality assessment framework could facilitate greater harmonization and quality improvements.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi process to develop the guidelines.

Blarcamesine for the treatment of Early Alzheimer's Disease: Results from the ANAVEX2-73-AD-004 Phase IIB/III trial.

Background: There are no approved oral disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess efficacy and safety of blarcamesine (ANAVEX®2-73), an orally available small-molecule activator of the sigma-1 receptor (SIGMAR1) in early AD through restoration of cellular homeostasis including autophagy enhancement.

Design: ANAVEX2-73-AD-004 was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 48-week Phase IIb/III trial.

Factors Associated with Advance Care Planning Engagement Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Aim: To explore the associations between depression, anxiety, decisional conflict and advance care planning engagement and the potential mediating role of decisional conflict in the associations between depression, anxiety and advance care planning among community-dwelling older adults.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 262 community-dwelling older Australians across metropolitan, regional and rural communities between August and October 2022.

Methods: Validated self-reported questions were used to collect data on anxiety, depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), decisional conflict (Decisional Conflict Scale), advance care planning engagement (Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey) and covariates (demographic characteristics, health literacy [Health Literacy Screening Questions]), overall health status (Short form 36).

Frailty evidence-practice gaps in acute care hospitals.

Objectives: Frailty is common in hospitalised older people. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of frailty provide recommendations for identification and management; however, adoption into practice in hospitals is limited. This study identified and quantified the evidence-practice gap between frailty guidelines and clinical practice in two hospitals using an audit tool.

Hospital-Based Health Professionals' Perceptions of Frailty in Older People.

Background And Objectives: There is a high prevalence of frailty amongst older patients in hospital settings. Frailty guidelines exist but implementation to date has been challenging. Understanding health professional attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs about frailty is critical in understanding barriers and enablers to guideline implementation, and the aim of this study was to understand these in rehabilitation multidisciplinary teams in hospital settings.

Validating care and treatment scenarios for measuring decisional conflict regarding future care preferences among older adults.

Objective: Decisional conflict is used increasingly as an outcome measure in advance care planning (ACP) studies. When the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS) is used in anticipatory decision-making contexts, the scale is typically tethered to hypothetical scenarios. This study reports preliminary validation data for hypothetical scenarios relating to life-sustaining treatments and care utilisation to inform their broader use in ACP studies.

A pilot study of an intergenerational program for people in residential aged care with cognitive impairment and children from a co-located early learning centre during COVID-19.

Intergenerational programs in residential aged care may improve well-being and combat loneliness and social isolation in older people with cognitive impairment. This pilot study investigated the effects of a semi-structured intergenerational group, including children from a co-located early learning centre and people living in residential aged care with cognitive impairment. This 9-week study used a mixed methods pre- and post-program design.

Effect of cognitive training on cognitive function in community-dwelling older people with mild-to-moderate dementia: A single-blind randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial was to determine the effect of computerised cognitive training (CT) on executive function, processing speed and working memory in 61 people with mild-to-moderate dementia.

Methods: The primary outcomes were forward Digit Span and Trail Making Tests (TMT) at the completion of the 6-month intervention. Secondary outcomes included cognitive and physical performance, rate of falls, participant and caregiver's quality of life and usability and adherence to the CT program.

Knowledge, attitudes and self-confidence with skills required for providing dementia care in physicians at primary healthcare settings in Vietnam.

Background: Dementia is a global public health priority. The World Health Organization adopted a Global Action Plan on Dementia, with dementia awareness a priority. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and self-confidence with skills required for providing dementia care among primary health care providers in Vietnam.

Measuring the success of programmes of care for people living with dementia: a protocol for consensus building with consumers to develop a set of Core Outcome Measures for Improving Care (COM-IC).

Introduction: The Core Outcome Measures for Improving Care (COM-IC) project aims to deliver practical recommendations on the selection and implementation of a suite of core outcomes to measure the effectiveness of interventions for dementia care.

Methods And Analysis: COM-IC embeds a participatory action approach to using the Alignment-Harmonisation-Results framework for measuring dementia care in Australia. Using this framework, suitable core outcome measures will be identified, analysed, implemented and audited.

Designing an Alternative, Community Integrated Model of Residential Aged Care for People Living with Dementia: Nominal Group Technique and Thematic Analysis.

Background: Small-scale models of dementia care are a potential solution to deinstitutionalize residential aged care and have been associated with improved resident outcomes, including quality of life and reduced hospitalizations for people living with dementia.

Objective: This study aimed to generate strategies and ideas on how homes for people living with dementia in a village setting within a suburban community, could be designed and function without external boundaries. In particular, how could residents of the village and members of the surrounding community access and engage safely and equitably so that interpersonal connections might be fostered?

Methods: Twenty-one participants provided an idea for discussion at three Nominal Group Technique workshops, including people living with dementia, carers or former carers, academics, researchers, and clinicians.

Implementation of a frailty intervention in the transition from hospital to home: a realist process evaluation protocol for the FORTRESS trial.

Introduction: Frailty in Older people: Rehabilitation, Treatment, Research Examining Separate Settings (the FORTRESS study) is a multisite, hybrid type II, stepped wedge, cluster, randomised trial examining the uptake and outcomes of a frailty intervention. The intervention is based on the 2017 Asia Pacific Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Frailty and begins in the acute hospital setting and transitions to the community. The success of the intervention will require individual and organisational behaviour change within a dynamic health system.

Bridging the gap: Study protocol for development of an implementation strategy for evidence-informed reablement and rehabilitation for community-dwelling people with dementia.

Background: Extensive research supports the use of goal-directed reablement and rehabilitation interventions to address a range of physical, functional, cognitive and behavioural needs of people living with dementia. Despite this, evidence-informed multidisciplinary reablement and rehabilitation interventions are not being offered in usual dementia care across Australia. An examination is needed of how best to implement reablement and rehabilitation interventions within the community-based dementia care sector.

Characterising Australian memory clinics: current practice and service needs informing national service guidelines.

Background: Memory clinics (MCs) play a key role in accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment of dementia and mild cognitive impairment. However, within Australia, there are little data available on current practices in MCs, which hinder international comparisons for best practice, harmonisation efforts and national coordination. Here, we aimed to characterise current service profiles of Australian MCs.

Frailty in older people: Rehabilitation Treatment Research Examining Separate Settings (FORTRESS): protocol for a hybrid type II stepped wedge, cluster, randomised trial.

Background: Frailty in older people is associated with increased risk of falls, longer length of stay in hospital, increased risk of institutionalisation and death. Frailty can be measured using validated tools. Multi-component frailty interventions are recommended in clinical practice guidelines but are not routinely implemented in clinical practice.

Screening, Diagnosis and Management of Sarcopenia and Frailty in Hospitalized Older Adults: Recommendations from the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ANZSSFR) Expert Working Group.

Sarcopenia and frailty are highly prevalent conditions in older hospitalized patients, which are associated with a myriad of adverse clinical outcomes. This paper, prepared by a multidisciplinary expert working group from the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ANZSSFR), provides an up-to-date overview of current evidence and recommendations based on a narrative review of the literature for the screening, diagnosis, and management of sarcopenia and frailty in older patients within the hospital setting. It also includes suggestions on potential pathways to implement change to encourage widespread adoption of these evidence-informed recommendations within hospital settings.

Experiences and perceptions of dementia in Vietnam and among the Vietnamese diaspora: a systematic review of qualitative studies.

: This paper aimed to review and synthesise the qualitative research evidence on the experiences and perceptions of dementia in Vietnam and among the Vietnamese diaspora. Systematic searches were conducted in June 2019 using Medline, Embase, Emcare, PsycINFO and Cochrane electronic databases, as well as grey literature. Keywords and Medical Subject Headings [MeSH terms] for dementia and associated terms were combined with keywords for Vietnam and its provinces.

Effect of a Ward-Based Program on Hospital-Associated Complications and Length of Stay for Older Inpatients: The Cluster Randomized CHERISH Trial.

Importance: Hospital-associated complications of older people (HAC-OPs) include delirium, hospital-associated disability, incontinence, pressure injuries, and falls. These complications may be preventable by age-friendly principles of care, including early mobility, good nutrition and hydration, and meaningful cognitive engagement; however, implementation is challenging.

Objectives: To implement and evaluate a ward-based improvement program ("Eat Walk Engage") to more consistently deliver age-friendly principles of care to older individuals in acute inpatient wards.

Empowering Dementia Carers With an iSupport Virtual Assistant (e-DiVA) in Asia-Pacific Regional Countries: Protocol for a Pilot Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Dementia is a global public health priority with an estimated prevalence of 150 million by 2050, nearly two-thirds of whom will live in the Asia-Pacific region. Dementia creates significant care needs for people with the disease, their families, and carers. iSupport is a self-help platform developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide education, skills training, and support to dementia carers.

Life expectancy of older people living in aged care facilities after a hip fracture.

To the authors' knowledge, no study has been conducted on life expectancy for aged care facility residents with hip fracture. We assessed life expectancy of 240 residents of aged care facilities in Australia who experienced recent hip fracture treated with surgery. 149 deaths occurred over a mean follow-up of 1.