Publications by authors named "Laura Block"

Purpose: Delivery of person-centered care (PCC) is the standard in nursing homes (NHs) and demonstrates a positive impact on resident quality of life (QOL). PCC inherently recognizes and prioritizes resident preferences; however, preferences, and their degree of importance among residents, demonstrate a variable relationship with QOL that remains underexplored. Therefore, the current study examined the association between preferences and QOL among NH residents.

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Article Synopsis
  • Deprescribing is a tailored approach used in older adults, especially those in nursing homes, to optimize medication by weighing individual risks and goals while addressing issues like polypharmacy.
  • Policies at various government levels influence medication prescribing in nursing homes, focusing on reducing chemical restraints and unnecessary drug use.
  • To improve care, gerontological nursing must understand these policies and their effects to adopt more individualized deprescribing methods.*
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Background: Persons living with dementia (PLWD) experience high rates of hospitalization and rehospitalization, exposing them to added risk for adverse outcomes including delirium, hastened cognitive decline, and death. Hospitalizations can also increase family caregiver strain. Despite disparities in care quality surrounding hospitalizations for PLWD, and evidence suggesting that exposure to neighborhood-level disadvantage increases these inequities, experiences with hospitalization among PLWD and family caregivers exposed to greater levels of neighborhood disadvantage are poorly understood.

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Background: Multi-month dispensing (MMD) of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is an integral component of differentiated HIV service delivery for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Although many countries have scaled up ART dispensing to 3-month intervals, Ethiopia was the first African country to implement six-month dispensing (6-MMD) at scale, introducing its Appointment Spacing Model (ASM) for people doing well on ART in 2017. As of June 2021, 51.

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People living with dementia (PLWD) may experience the episodes of lucidity (ELs), defined as a sudden return of abilities presumed to have been lost and presenting as meaningful communication and connection. Early research on ELs in advanced disease stages suggests these are predominantly positive events. This case report draws from 1 outlier case from a descriptive qualitative study on caregivers of PLWDs' experiences with ELs.

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Background: Readmissions contribute to excessive care costs and burden for people living with dementia. Assessments of racial disparities in readmissions among dementia populations are lacking, and the role of social and geographic risk factors such as individual-level exposure to greater neighborhood disadvantage is poorly understood. We examined the association between race and 30-day readmissions in a nationally representative sample of Black and non-Hispanic White individuals with dementia diagnoses.

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Background And Objectives: Episodes of lucidity (ELs), or a transient return of abilities believed to be lost in people living with dementia, are a growing area of interest. These events hold important implications for care, caregiving, and our understanding of underlying etiologies. Research on ELs is largely limited to retrospective reports.

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Objective: Patients with rheumatologic conditions are at elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to inflammatory and traditional risk factors, such as high blood pressure (BP) and smoking. However, rheumatology clinics rarely address traditional risk factors, although they are routinely assessed and modifiable in primary care. The present study sought to (1) characterize rheumatology clinic staff's work process for addressing high BP and smoking and (2) identify barriers and strategies for effective management of these risk factors.

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Hospital-to-skilled nursing facility (SNF) transitions constitute a vulnerable point in care for people with dementia and often precede important care decisions. These decisions necessitate accurate diagnostic/decision-making information, including dementia diagnosis, power of attorney for health care (POAHC), and code status; however, inter-setting communication during hospital-to-SNF transitions is suboptimal. This retrospective cohort study examined omissions of diagnostic/decision-making information in written discharge communication during hospital-to-SNF transitions.

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Background And Objectives: Improved measures capable of capturing the influence of person-centered caregiving by staff in formal care settings on people living with dementia beyond deficit-oriented outcomes such as absence or reduction of symptoms are important for measuring progress toward improvements in well-being. This exploratory ethnographic study aimed to identify verbal and nonverbal expressions evidenced by people living with dementia surrounding person-centered caregiving approaches and to consider their use in informing temporally specific observational measures.

Research Design And Methods: This study adopted a microethnographic approach through secondary analysis of 5.

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The health consequences of systemic racism and ageism have received growing attention as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has illuminated long-standing inadequacies and injustices that are structurally engrained in our health systems. The current State of the Science Commentary addresses the intersecting influences of systemic racism and ageism, and other "-isms" that conspire to create disparate health outcomes for older adults from historically excluded and marginalized backgrounds. We focus specifically on the long-term care sector as a representative microcosm of structural inequities, while recognizing that these unjust barriers to health are widespread, endemic, and pervasive.

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Background: Family caregivers of people living with dementia benefit from supportive service use to address care needs associated with caregiving. Yet, research consistently demonstrates low rates of service use. Existing research has focused on barriers and facilitators to service use, with few studies examining the influence of caregivers' environmental context which often patterns social advantage and health services accessibility.

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Despite the high prevalence and negative outcomes associated with poorly managed dementia-related behavioral expressions (BE) during hospitalization, evidence-based interventions for BE management in acute care environments are lacking. To address this gap, we designed, implemented, and evaluated feasibility, utility, and exploratory nurse and patient outcomes associated with a low-cost, nurse-led multicomponent decision support intervention-the Personalized Approach and Targeted Interventions (PROACTIVE) Treatment Approach-which was implemented as a quality improvement program and evaluated with a historical matched comparison group. The intervention was feasibly implemented and improved nurse-sensitive outcomes (stress, confidence), practices (use of nonpharmacological approaches) for BE management, and perceived utility of intervention resources.

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Introduction: People living with dementia (PLWD) are more likely to experience hospitalisation events (hospitalisation, rehospitalisation) than those without dementia. Many hospitalisation events, particularly rehospitalisation within 30 days of discharge, are thought to be avoidable. Yet our understanding of dementia-specific risk and protective factors surrounding avoidable hospitalisation is limited to specific intersetting transitions and predominantly clinician perspectives.

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The urgent need to expand enrollment in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) research has synergized calls for an empiric science of research recruitment, yet, progress in this area is hindered by challenges to measuring views toward ADRD research. This paper reports ethical and methodological considerations identified through a prospective qualitative study investigating ADRD patient and caregiver views on research recruitment and participation surrounding acute illness. Ethical and methodological considerations were identified through a combination of memoing, collaboration with a Community Advisory Board (CAB), and analysis of interview data from ADRD patients ( = 3) and/or caregivers ( = 28).

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Background: There is a pressing need to increase enrollment and representation in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) research. Current recruitment approaches focus largely on clinic and community settings, with minimal engagement of acute care environments despite their broad use across diverse populations. The objectives of this study were to examine views, preferences, and recommendations regarding acute care-based ADRD research recruitment among persons with dementia and their caregivers.

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Provided the complexity of managing dementia-related neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), accurate communication about these symptoms at hospital discharge is critical to facilitating safe and effective transitions, particularly transitions from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNF), which are often poorly managed. Skilled nursing facilities providers have cited undercommunication regarding NPS as a major challenge that contributes to poor outcomes including rehospitalization. This multisite retrospective cohort study identified omission rates for NPS and associated management strategies in discharge communication as compared to medical record documentation in the 72 hours preceding discharge among hospitalized patients with dementia.

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Family caregivers provide the majority of care for people with dementia, often balancing multiple caregiving roles. Technology-based interventions have demonstrated strong potential for supporting family caregivers in navigating these roles, yet translational uptake of these interventions remains limited. A comprehensive understanding of how caregivers engage and evaluate everyday technological supports is necessary to foster broader adoption.

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Informal caregivers are an integral part of care delivery for persons with dementia (PwD). Informal caregivers take part in a wide range of care activities both individually and collaboratively with other caregivers. Caregiving often involves high demands in the face of limited resources, which can lead to stress, burden, and burnout.

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Introduction: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged adults. Yet, these populations are significantly underrepresented in research.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature for published reports describing recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in ADRD research or underrepresented participants' perspectives regarding ADRD research participation.

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Child-driven genetic factors can contribute to negative parenting and may increase the risk of being maltreated. Experiencing childhood maltreatment may be partly heritable, but results of twin studies are mixed. In the current study, we used a cross-sectional extended family design to estimate genetic and environmental effects on experiencing child maltreatment.

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Background And Objectives: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are a core feature of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias that are characterized by a fluctuating course. NPS are challenging to manage and contribute to high rates of burden among family caregivers. Successful information exchange between clinicians and family caregivers is critical for facilitating effective management of NPS.

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Introduction: Suboptimal male engagement in HIV programmes is a persistent challenge, leading to lower coverage of HIV testing, prevention and treatment services, and to worse outcomes for men. Differentiated service delivery models, such as peer-led community antiretroviral refill groups (CARGs), offer the opportunity to enhance patient satisfaction, retention and treatment outcomes. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study to identify facilitators and barriers to CARG participation by HIV-positive men, with inputs from recipients of HIV care, community members, healthcare workers (HCWs), donors and policymakers.

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