Telehealth Support for Dementia Caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From the NYU Family Support Program.

Objectives: In response to the needs of dementia caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NYU Langone Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Family Support Program (FSP) quickly transitioned to providing most services online. To understand how dementia caregivers experienced FSP services after the switch to video telehealth, we conducted qualitative interviews of spouse or partner dementia caregivers.

Participants: Ten participants were recruited from a convenience sample of dementia spouse or partner caregivers who used one or more online FSP services offered during the pandemic.

Longitudinal study: understanding the lived experience of couples across the trajectory of dementia.

Background: The longitudinal study, "Couples Lived Experiences," focuses on whether and how relationship characteristics of older couples change with the cognitive decline of one member of the couple, and how these changes affect each individual's emotional and physical health outcomes. Until now, most psychosocial research in dementia has focused either on the person with dementia (PWD) or the caregiver separately. The previous literature examining relationship characteristics and their role in outcomes for the caregiver and PWD is scant and suffers from methodological issues that limit the understanding of which relationship characteristics most influence outcomes for caregivers and care-receivers and what other factors may mitigate or exacerbate their effects.

Impact of the Educational Boost Your Brain and Memory Program Among Senior Living Residents.

This random assignment waitlist control intervention study examined an implementation of the educational Boost Your Brain and Memory cognitive fitness intervention in 12 senior living organizations. Older adult participants ( n = 166) completed measures of brain health knowledge, use of memory techniques, physical and intellectual activity, and mindfulness, at baseline and after the intervention group's completion of the course. Changes in knowledge scores and in self-reported physical and intellectual activity increased significantly more for intervention participants than for waitlist controls at the conclusion of the course.

Providing guidance to patients: physicians' views about the relative responsibilities of doctors and religious communities.

Objectives: Patients' religious communities often influence their medical decisions. To date, no study has examined what physicians think about the responsibilities borne by religious communities to provide guidance to patients in different clinical contexts.

Methods: We mailed a confidential, self-administered survey to a stratified random sample of 1504 US primary care physicians (PCPs).