Communication Modalities, Personality Traits, and Change in Perceived Control Over Social Life Following Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Older Americans.

We examined associations between change in social contact communication modalities and change in perceived control over social life (PCOSL) following onset of the COVID-19 pandemic among older Americans and evaluated the extent to which associations were moderated by personality. Data were from the 2016 and 2020 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Multivariate ordinary least squares regression analyses were computed adjusting for baseline PCOSL, sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial factors.

Momentary Associations of Osteoarthritis Pain and Affect: Depression as Moderator.

Objectives: This research examined main and moderating effects of global depressive symptoms upon in-the-moment associations of pain and affect among individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Effects of depression on short-term change in pain and affect were also examined.

Method: Older adults with physician-confirmed OA (N = 325) completed a baseline interview tapping global depressive symptoms, followed by an experience sampling protocol that captured momentary pain and affect 4 times daily for 7 days.

Ethnoracial disparities in cognition are associated with multiple socioeconomic status-stress pathways.

Systemic racism can have broad impacts on health in ethnoracial minorities. One way is by suppressing socioeconomic status (SES) levels through barriers to achieve higher income, wealth, and educational attainment. Additionally, the weathering hypothesis proposes that the various stressful adversities faced by ethnoracial minorities lead to greater wear and tear on the body, known as allostatic load.

The Role of Purpose in Life in the Relationship Between Widowhood and Cognitive Decline Among Older Adults in the U.S.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the role of purpose in life in the relationship between widowhood and cognitive decline.

Methods: This study used a sample of 12,856 respondents (20,408 observations) collected from a national panel survey, the 2006-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), that sampled older adults aged 50 or older. The study estimated growth-curve models with years since spousal death, purpose in life, and interaction between the two to predict cognition using three measures-total cognition, fluid, and crystallized intelligence scores.

Sources of nonreplicability in aging ethnoracial health disparities research.

The older adult population in the U.S. is becoming increasingly diverse across a constellation of factors including ethnoracial group, socioeconomic status, and immigration status.

Enhancing sleep quality for nursing home residents with dementia: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of an evidence-based frontline huddling program.

Background: Disturbed sleep places older adults at higher risk for frailty, morbidity, and even mortality. Yet, nursing home routines frequently disturb residents' sleep through use of noise, light, or efforts to reduce incontinence. Nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease and or related dementias-almost two-thirds of long-stay nursing home residents-are likely to be particularly affected by sleep disturbance.

Pain in persons with dementia and the direct and indirect impacts on caregiver burden.

Objectives: Unresolved pain is related to neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in persons living with dementia (PLWD), and an increase in NPS is distressing for PLWD and their caregivers. Hence, we examined whether pain in PLWD was related to caregiver burden and whether caregiver upset with NPS mediated this relationship.

Method: We examined, cross-sectionally, the relationships among pain in PLWD, caregiver burden, and upset with NPS.

Perceived Decisional Control as a Mediator between Moving to Assisted Living Due to Caregiver Burden and Relocation Adjustment.

Objectives: The rapid growth of the older population in the United States has led to increased utilization of assisted living facilities (ALFs), and it is important to understand what factors may facilitate better adjustment. This study examined the mediating role of perceived decisional control in the relationship between moving to assisted living (AL) to prevent/alleviate caregiver burden and post-relocation adjustment.

Methods: Participants were 91 newly-transitioned residents of ALFs in Alabama and Maryland.

Selective optimization with compensation strategies utilized by older adults newly-transitioned to assisted living.

Admission to assisted living (AL) is on the rise in the United States, and adjustment to this new environment can be challenging for older adults. To date, few studies have explored the ways in which older adults may be able to ease the transition to AL by minimizing relocation-related losses. Consequently, we explored the potential for the components of the framework Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) to facilitate successful adjustment to AL.

Examining emotional intelligence in older adults with chronic pain: a factor analysis approach.

Objective: The current study explored whether the three-factor structure of an emotional intelligence measure (attention to emotions, clarity in understanding emotions, and emotion regulation) developed in a sample of college students would replicate in a sample of older adults with chronic pain.

Method: Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factor structure of the 30-item Trait Meta-Mood Scale among 340 older adults with knee osteoarthritis.

Results: Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the original three-factor model of emotional intelligence did not fit well with the data for older adults.

The impact of relocation stress on cognitively impaired and cognitively unimpaired long-term care residents.

The current aims were to explore the effects of relocation stress on depression and anxiety in long-term care residents and to investigate the moderating effect of cognitive status. The study used existing data from nursing home and congregate apartment residents. Self-reported measures of relocation stress, cognitive status, depression, and anxiety were examined.

Momentary Reports of Fatigue Predict Physical Activity Level: Wrist, Waist, and Combined Accelerometry.

Fatigue is commonly reported by persons with osteoarthritis (OA) and predicts worse functioning and decreased activity. The current research used a combination of wrist and waist accelerometry along with experience sampling methodology to examine the relationship between reports of fatigue and subsequent physical activity among older adults with knee OA. Two hundred one participants completed an interview followed by a 1-week period during which their activity was monitored and they reported symptoms of pain and fatigue.

The impact of social interactions and pain on daily positive and negative affect in adults with osteoarthritis of the knee.

This study utilized experience sampling methodology (ESM) to examine the relationship of social interactions with daily pain and mood symptoms in people with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Two hundred sixty-eight adults with physician-diagnosed OA of the knee underwent a baseline in-person interview and subsequent week-long ESM protocol to assess their daily activity patterns, pain, and mood via phone interview four times a day. A coding system was developed to assess presence and type of social interactions based on subject self-report of activity patterns.

Supporting autonomy in long-term care: Lessons from nursing assistants.

Maximizing nursing home (NH) resident autonomy is a person-centered care (PCC) best practice. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe specific autonomy-supportive techniques used by nursing assistants (NAs) in three NH neighborhoods at one Veterans Affairs medical center. Thirteen interviews and approximately 80 h of behavioral observation of NAs were conducted across the three NH neighborhoods.

Global Versus Momentary Osteoarthritis Pain and Emotional Distress: Emotional Intelligence as Moderator.

Background: Pain and emotional well-being are complexly associated both globally and in the moment. Emotional regulation strategies may contribute to that complexity by shaping the pain-well-being association.

Purpose: Using emotional intelligence (EI) as an integrative conceptual framework, this study probed the role of emotional regulation in the associations of osteoarthritis pain with emotional well-being in varying time frames.

Immediate and Lagged Effects of Daily Stress and Affect on Caregivers' Daily Pain Experience.

Purpose Of The Study: We examined the effect of daily stress, affect, and adult day service (ADS) use on the daily pain experience among caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD). Participants were interviewed for 8 consecutive days. Caregivers utilized an ADS program on some days and provided care at home on other days.

Racial/ethnic differences in sleep quality among older adults with osteoarthritis.

Objective: To examine racial/ethnic differences in sleep quality and the pain-sleep association among older adults with osteoarthritis of the knee.

Design: Baseline interview followed by a 7-day microlongitudinal study using accelerometry and self-reports.

Setting: Participants were community residents in western Alabama and Long Island, NY.

Development of a New Tool for Systematic Observation of Nursing Home Resident and Staff Engagement and Relationship.

Purpose Of Study: To develop a structured observational tool, the Resident-centered Assessment of Interactions with Staff and Engagement tool (RAISE), to measure 2 critical, multi-faceted, organizational-level aspects of person-centered care (PCC) in nursing homes: (a) resident engagement and (b) the quality and frequency of staff-resident interactions.

Design And Methods: In this multi-method psychometric development study, we conducted (a) 120 hr of ethnographic observations in one nursing home and (b) a targeted literature review to enable construct development. Two constructs for which no current structured observation measures existed emerged from this phase: nursing home resident-staff engagement and interaction.

Feelings of Usefulness to Others Predict Active Coping With Osteoarthritis Knee Pain.

Objective: To investigate associations of perceived usefulness to other people with active versus passive coping strategies among adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Additional aims explored contributions of personality variables to this dynamic.

Method: 199 persons (70.

Person-Centered Care Practices in Long-Term Care in the Deep South: Consideration of Structural, Market, and Administrator Characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to identify structural, market, and administrator factors of nursing homes that are related to the implementation of person-centered care. Administrators of Medicare/Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the Deep South were invited to complete a standardized survey about their facility and their perceptions and attitudes regarding person-centered care practices (PCCPs). Nursing home structural and market factors were obtained from public websites, and these data were matched with administrator data.

Within-Day Variability of Fatigue and Pain Among African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites With Osteoarthritis of the Knee.

Objective: Fatigue is common among persons with osteoarthritis (OA), but little is known about racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence, correlates, or dynamics of fatigue in OA. This research therefore used experience sampling methodology (ESM) to examine fatigue and pain at global and momentary levels among African Americans and non-Hispanic whites with OA.

Methods: Thirty-nine African Americans and 81 non-Hispanic whites with physician-diagnosed knee OA completed a baseline interview and an ESM protocol assessing fatigue, pain, and mood 4 times daily for 7 days.

"It Was Very Rewarding for Me …": Senior Volunteers' Experiences With Implementing a Reminiscence and Creative Activity Intervention.

Purpose Of The Study: To describe the experience of recruiting, training, and retaining retired senior volunteers (RSVs) as interventionists delivering a successful reminiscence and creative activity intervention to community-dwelling palliative care patients and their caregivers.

Design And Methods: A community-based participatory research framework involved Senior Corps RSV programs. Recruitment meetings and feedback groups yielded interested volunteers, who were trained in a 4-hr session using role plays and real-time feedback.

The stability of coping strategies in older adults with osteoarthritis and the ability of these strategies to predict changes in depression, disability, and pain.

Objectives: Given the chronically painful, incurable nature of osteoarthritis, effective cognitive and behavioral coping strategies may be critical for older adults with the disease. Little is known about how and why coping changes over time, nor about stability of coping strategies in persons with osteoarthritis. The aims of this work were to examine the structure of coping in older adults with osteoarthritis, the association of coping strategies with well-being, the stability of coping over time, and its association with changes in well-being over the same period.

Predictors in geriatric psychiatry hospital length of stay.

This paper examined predictors of length of stay in a freestanding geriatric psychiatry hospital. Data on patient and treatment characteristics of geriatric inpatients (N = 1,593) were extracted from an archival administrative tracking database from Mary Starke Geriatric Harper Center. Five independent variables (length of time between last discharge and most recent admission, number of previous admissions, number of assaults, co-morbid medical condition, and admitting psychiatric diagnosis) were entered into a hierarchical regression model as potential predictors of length of stay in a geriatric psychiatry hospital.

Sleep disturbance in osteoarthritis: linkages with pain, disability, and depressive symptoms.

Objective: It is known that osteoarthritis (OA) increases the risk of sleep disturbance, and that both pain and sleep problems may trigger functional disability and depression. However, studies examining all 4 variables simultaneously are rare. The aim of this study was to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of self-reported sleep disturbance with OA-related pain and disability and depressive symptoms.