Material Hardships, Perceived Stress, and Health among Low-Wage Hospital Workers.

Many service, clerical, and technical hospital workers deemed essential during the pandemic have wages that do not reflect the essential nature of their work and do not earn enough income to cover basic expenses. Thus, many experience material hardships related to food, housing, and medical care. Previous studies have shown strong relationships between material hardships and health; however, they do not fully explain the role of stress as an intervening mechanism.

Grandparenting, Social Relations, and Mortality in Old Age.

Guided by a convoy model of social relations, this study investigates the relationships between grandparenting status, social relations, and mortality among community-dwelling grandparents age 65 and older who are caring for their grandchildren. The data were drawn from the 2008 and 2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study ( = 564). Latent class analysis was used to identify the social network structure based on six indicators of interpersonal relationships and activities.

Psychiatric Sequelae Among Community Social Service Agency Staff 1 Year After a Mass Shooting.

This cross-sectional study examines the prevalence of mental health disorders and substance use among professional staff members at community social service agencies 1 year after a mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Assessing Knowledge Regarding Managing Congestive Health Failure Symptoms: Differences in Patient and Professional Scores.

Objective: To assess whether patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and health coaches agree about patient knowledge of health-enhancing practices related to CHF after ongoing telehealth coaching.

Methods: Forty patients with CHF and eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid were recruited from a regional managed care organization for this pilot study. Telecoaching sessions via a health insurance portability and accountability act(HIPAA)-compliant tablet-based platform focused on educational information designed to improve patient self-care.

Baby Boomer's Substance Abuse and Researcher Indifference.

The current older adult population is more likely to need and seek treatment for alcohol and drug abuse than previous cohorts of older adults, which necessitates the need for age-appropriate substance use treatment. Building on previous research that examined the lack of attention on substance use among older adults, this study examines articles addressing substance use disorders among older adults in leading gerontological and substance abuse journals and federal funding between 2011 and 2017. Publications were identified from ten leading gerontological and ten leading substance abuse journals using Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms.

Risk Factors for Symptoms of Prescription Opioid Misuse: Do Older Adults Differ from Younger Adult Patients?

Limited research is available regarding the health risks associated with opioid medication misuse among middle age (50-64 years) and older adults (65 and older). Understanding the misuse symptom risk profiles of these populations has potential to advance the national opioid epidemic response. A survey was conducted in four community pharmacies in southwestern Pennsylvania among adult, non-cancer patients filling opioid medications (N = 318) regarding opioid medication misuse symptoms and misuse risk factors.

Prescription Opioid Misuse Among Rural Community Pharmacy Patients: Pilot Study for Screening and Implications for Future Practice and Research.

Background: Opioid misuse imposes a disproportionately heavy burden on individuals living in rural areas. Community pharmacy has the potential to expand and coordinate with health professionals to identify and intervene with those who misuse opioids.

Objective: Rural and urban community pharmacy patients were recruited in this pilot project to describe and compare patterns of opioid misuse.

Increasing self-knowledge: Utilizing tele-coaching for patients with congestive heart failure.

The objective was to assess self-care knowledge changes with dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF), who received a telecoaching protocol integrating symptom monitoring with face-to-face video chat with a social worker. We recruited 45 patients with CHF from a regional managed care organization. Sessions via a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant tablet-based platform focused on educational information designed to improve patient self-care.

Pathological gambling and treatment outcomes for adults age 50 or older in methadone maintenance treatment.

This study examined the relationship of pathological gambling to negative treatment outcomes for methadone maintenance patients aged 50 or older. The study included 130 methadone maintenance patients. Pathological gambling was determined using the Lie-Bet, a screen for pathological gambling; the outcomes were remaining in treatment and negative urine screens for drug use.

Just say know: an examination of substance use disorders among older adults in gerontological and substance abuse journals.

This article examines the extent to which studies of alcohol abuse, illicit drug use, and prescription drug abuse among older adults appear in the leading gerontological and substance abuse journals. The authors reviewed articles published in the 10 social science gerontological journals and the 10 social science substance abuse journals with the highest 5-year impact factors in PubMed from 2000 to 2010. Articles were selected that presented original research on alcohol, substance, or prescription abuse with older adults aged 50 and older; and were identified through aging and substance abuse-related Medical Subject Headings and word searches of titles and abstracts (N = 634).

Older adults and substance-related disorders: trends and associated costs.

Purpose. The aim of this study is to examine the changing service profile of older adults receiving substance abuse services over the past decade and the increased costs of treating this population. Design and Methods.

Raising the stakes: assessing the human service response to the advent of a casino.

This article reports the findings of one county's human service network's readiness to treat gambling related problems in anticipation of the opening of a new casino. Using a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaires were mailed to executive directors of all mental health, family counseling, drug and alcohol, and faith-based, addiction-related organizations in the county (N = 248); 137 (55.2%) agency directors responded to the questionnaire.

Child welfare worker caseload: what's just right?

This study was designed to establish a caseload standard for child welfare workers. Understanding reasonable workload expectations for child welfare workers is a cornerstone of quality service provision and the recruitment and retention of qualified workers. Because of the analytic complexity of this question, qualitative and quantitative methods were used.