Quality of advance care planning policy and practice in residential aged care facilities in Australia.

Objectives: To assess existing advance care planning (ACP) practices in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in Victoria, Australia before a systematic intervention; to assess RACF staff experience, understanding of and attitudes towards ACP.

Design: Surveys of participating organisations concerning ACP-related policies and procedures, review of existing ACP-related documentation, and pre-intervention survey of RACF staff covering their role, experiences and attitudes towards ACP-related procedures.

Setting: 19 selected RACFs in Victoria.

Development and evaluation of an aged care specific Advance Care Plan.

Objectives: To report on the quality of advance care planning (ACP) documents in use in residential aged care facilities (RACF) in areas of Victoria Australia prior to a systematic intervention; to report on the development and performance of an aged care specific Advance Care Plan template used during the intervention.

Design: An audit of the quality of pre-existing documentation used to record resident treatment preferences and end-of-life wishes at participating RACFs; development and pilot of an aged care specific Advance Care Plan template; an audit of the completeness and quality of Advance Care Plans completed on the new template during a systematic ACP intervention.

Participants And Setting: 19 selected RACFs (managed by 12 aged care organisations) in metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria.

Successful aging: development and testing of a multidimensional model using data from a large sample of older australians.

Objectives: To develop a multidimensional statistical model that could assess the contribution of, and interrelationships between, measures likely to contribute to an individual's successful aging, defined as aging well across a number of dimensions.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Data collected from 8,841 Australians aged 16 to 85 during the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The general practitioner's role in providing mental health services to Australians, 1997 and 2007: findings from the national surveys of mental health and wellbeing.

Objectives: To compare the findings of the 1997 and 2007 Australian national surveys of mental health and wellbeing (NSMHWBs) with respect to the role of general practitioners in providing mental health services.

Design, Setting And Participants: There were 10,641 participants Australia-wide in the 1997 survey and 8841 in the 2007 survey. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews using a written questionnaire.

Is telomere length a biomarker of aging? A review.

Telomeres, the DNA-protein structures located at the ends of chromosomes, have been proposed to act as a biomarker of aging. In this review, the human evidence that telomere length is a biomarker of aging is evaluated. Although telomere length is implicated in cellular aging, the evidence suggesting telomere length is a biomarker of aging in humans is equivocal.

Differences in older people's responses to CIDI's depression screening and diagnostic questions may point to age-related bias.

Background: Psychiatric surveys based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) report very low rates of affective disorder in older people, perhaps because CIDI's long, convoluted screening questions present a special challenge to aged respondents. We have shown previously that inconsistencies in responses to CIDI's two screening questions about dysphoria and anhedonia rose in frequency with age. By contrast, responses to the short, simple K-10 and GHQ-12 mental health scales showed much less change over the lifespan.

Mental health scales and psychiatric diagnoses: responses to GHQ-12, K-10 and CIDI across the lifespan.

Background: Surveys based on complex interviews like CIDI report very low rates of affective disorder in older people, perhaps because the lengthy, convoluted questions present a special challenge to aged respondents. By contrast, mental health scales like the GHQ-12 and K-10 show much less change in score with age. Before concluding that scales present a fairer picture of aged mental health, it is important to check if scores are inflated by items that might reflect normal involutional changes in cognition, energy and social role.

Pretrauma and posttrauma neurocognitive functioning and PTSD symptoms in a community sample of young adults.

Objective: The authors sought to assess whether neurocognitive deficits in people with the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of reexperiencing and arousal are a consequence of these symptoms or represent a preexisting vulnerability factor for developing these symptoms after exposure to a traumatic event.

Method: A random sample of 2,097 young adults who participated in a longitudinal epidemiological study in 1999 and 2000 were reinterviewed in 2003 and 2004 after a major natural disaster (a widespread fire) had occurred in the region. At both interviews, participants completed a number of neurocognitive tests covering immediate and delayed word recall, digit span, coding speed, and vocabulary.

The brain reserve hypothesis, brain atrophy and aging.

Background: Researchers have used the concept of brain reserve to explain the dissociation between pathological brain damage and cognitive and functional performance. A variety of brain reserve hypotheses exist, and different empirical strategies have been employed to investigate these variants.

Objective: The study investigates (i) the relationship between measures of brain burden (atrophy, white matter hyperintensities (WMH)) and measures of reserve (education, creativity, and intelligence); (ii) the relationship between cognitive decline and reserve; (iii) whether measures of reserve mediate the effect of atrophy on estimated cognitive change, and (iv) the association between brain risk factors, education and atrophy.

Effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments for depression in children and adolescents.

Objective: To review the evidence for the effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments for depression in children and adolescents.

Data Sources: Systematic literature search using PubMed, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library for 131 treatments up to February 2006.

Study Selection: There were 13 treatments that had been evaluated in intervention studies.

Belief in dealing with depression alone: results from community surveys of adolescents and adults.

Background: Community surveys have found that some people believe that it is better to deal with depression alone rather than seek help. However, there has been little research into the characteristics of this group.

Methods: Data were drawn from three Australian surveys: (1) a national survey of 1001 adults aged 18+ years; (2) a school survey of 552 students aged 14-16 years from two regions; (3) a survey of 577 young people aged 12-17 years from the Melbourne region.

Tobacco use after experiencing a major natural disaster: analysis of a longitudinal study of 2063 young adults.

Aim: To identify the extent to which tobacco use is affected by experience of a natural disaster and resulting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Design: Longitudinal community survey.

Setting: Canberra, the national capital of Australia.

The warpy thoughts scale: a new 20-item instrument to measure dysfunctional attitudes.

Cognitive theories of psychopathology propose that specific negative cognitive schema held by individuals can increase their likelihood of experiencing depressive episodes. While it has been argued that such dysfunctional attitudes are state measures that occur primarily during periods of depression, a range of research has supported the view that holding dysfunctional attitudes is ongoing, persisting prior to and following depressive episodes. To date, the need for a parsimonious measure of dysfunctional attitudes has not been well addressed.

An instrument to measure engagement in life: factor analysis and associations with sociodemographic, health and cognition measures.

Background: It has been proposed that active engagement with life may protect against cognitive decline. However, existing instruments for measuring life engagement have covered limited domains.

Objective: To present a new instrument to measure engagement with life; the RIASEC Activities List draws on activities categorised according to interest categories previously developed by Holland: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional (RIASEC).

Depression in mild cognitive impairment in a community sample of individuals 60-64 years old.

Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the prevalence and characteristics of depression in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The data presented here are from the first wave of the longitudinal Personality and Total Health Through Life 60+ (PATH 60+) Project.

Method: A total of 2551 community-dwelling individuals in the age range 60-64 years were recruited randomly through the electoral roll.

Associations of pre-trauma attributes and trauma exposure with screening positive for PTSD: analysis of a community-based study of 2,085 young adults.

Background: While pre-trauma personality and mental health measures are risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such information is usually obtained following the trauma and can be influenced by post-trauma distress. We used data collected from a community-based survey of young adults before and after a major natural disaster to examine the extent to which participants' traumatic experiences, demographic and pre-trauma risk factors were associated with their screening positive for PTSD when re-interviewed.

Method: A representative selection of 2,085 young adults from the Australian Capital Territory and environs, interviewed in 1999 as part of a longitudinal community-based survey, were re-interviewed 3-18 months after a major bushfire had occurred in the region.

Clinical and neuroimaging correlates of mild cognitive impairment in a middle-aged community sample: the personality and total health through life 60+ study.

This cross-sectional study aimed at determining the clinical and structural brain magnetic resonance imaging correlates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The data presented here are from the first wave of the longitudinal Personality and Total Health through Life 60+ project. 2,551 community-dwelling individuals in the age range of 60-64 years were recruited randomly through the electoral roll.

Within-occasion intraindividual variability and preclinical diagnostic status: is intraindividual variability an indicator of mild cognitive impairment?

Intraindividual variability in cognitive test performance has the potential to be a good marker of preclinical Alzheimer's disease status (S. C. Li & U.

Relationship of homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B12 with depression in a middle-aged community sample.

Background: Case control studies have supported a relationship between low folic acid and vitamin B112 and high homocysteine levels as possible predictors of depression. The results from epidemiological studies are mixed and largely from elderly populations.

Method: A random subsample of 412 persons aged 60-64 years from a larger community sample underwent psychiatric and physical assessments, and brain MRI scans.

Mental health first aid responses of the public: results from an Australian national survey.

Background: The prevalence of mental disorders is so high that members of the public will commonly have contact with someone affected. How they respond to that person (the mental health first aid response) may affect outcomes. However, there is no information on what members of the public might do in such circumstances.

Pet ownership and health in older adults: findings from a survey of 2,551 community-based Australians aged 60-64.

Background: It is commonly assumed that owning a pet provides older residents in the community with health benefits including improved physical health and psychological well-being. It has also been reported that pet owners are lower on neuroticism and higher on extraversion compared with those without pets. However, findings of research on this topic have been mixed with a number of researchers reporting that, for older people, there is little or no health benefit associated with pet ownership.

Use of prescription medications and complementary and alternative medicines to treat depressive and anxiety symptoms: results from a community sample.

Background: Individuals prescribed antidepressants or anxiolytics may replace or augment such medications with complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs). Little is known about the extent to which individuals in the community use CAMs instead of, or in addition to, medications they have been prescribed, for anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Method: Information on use of CAMs, antidepressants and anxiolytics was obtained from a community sample of 7485 survey participants from Canberra and environs, Australia.

Effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments for anxiety disorders.

Objectives: To review the evidence for the effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments for anxiety disorders.

Data Sources: Systematic literature search using PubMed, PsycLit, and the Cochrane Library.

Data Synthesis: 108 treatments were identified and grouped under the categories of medicines and homoeopathic remedies, physical treatments, lifestyle, and dietary changes.

The impact of employee level and work stress on mental health and GP service use: an analysis of a sample of Australian government employees.

Background: This study sought to identify the extent to which employee level and work stressors were associated with mental health problems experienced by Australian government employees, and with their use of primary care services.

Methods: 806 government employees aged between 40 and 44 years were surveyed as part of an epidemiological study conducted in Australia. Data collected from participants included sociodemographic attributes, physical health, psychological measures and work stressors relating to job control, job demands, job security and skills discretion at work.

An examination of seasonality experienced by Australians living in a continental temperate climate zone.

Background: To date, there has been only limited information on factors associated with seasonal changes in mood and behaviour experienced by a random sample of Australians living in a continental temperate climate region. This paper identifies socio-demographic, psychological and personality factors associated with reporting higher levels of seasonality.

Method: Information on seasonal change using the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was obtained from 7485 persons in three age groups.