Public health care staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison of job demands and work functioning between temporary and permanent staff.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed an enormous challenge on the public health workforce, leading to the hiring of much temporary staff. Temporary staff may experience poorer working conditions compared to permanent staff. From a public health perspective, we need to know how working conditions are experienced when there is an acute pressure on recruiting sufficient public health care staff.

End-of-life care in German and Dutch nursing homes: a cross-sectional study on nursing home staff's perspective in 2022.

Background: As society ages, the need for nursing home care is steadily increasing and end-of-life care of nursing home residents has become increasingly more important. End-of-life care differs between Germany and the neighbouring Netherlands. For example, a much higher proportion of German compared to Dutch nursing home residents is hospitalized at the end of life.

COVID-19 measures implemented for nursing home staff and their perspectives on the importance of the measures: A qualitative study.

Background: Measures against COVID-19 in nursing homes affected not only clients but also staff. However, staff perspectives on the importance of these measures remain underexplored.

Objective: To investigate measures related to staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff perspectives of important measures and the involvement of staff in deciding on these measures.

Priority measures to prevent infections and maintain residents' well-being during COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes: Consensus among staff and resident representatives determined in an online nominal group technique study.

Background: COVID-19 infection prevention measures can negatively impact nursing home residents' well-being. Society has been concerned about the imbalance between infection prevention and residents' well-being, and about nursing home residents' autonomy in COVID-19 policymaking.

Objective: This study explores consensus among nursing home staff about which measures they found to be most important in contributing to preventing infections and to maintaining well-being of residents during COVID-19 outbreaks.

Differences in emergency department visits and hospitalization between German and Dutch nursing home residents: a cross-national survey.

Purpose: Assessing and comparing German and Dutch nursing home perspectives on residents' hospital transfers.

Methods: Cross-sectional study among German and Dutch nursing homes. Two surveys were conducted in May 2022, each among 600 randomly selected nursing homes in Germany and the Netherlands.

The effects of individual music therapy in nursing home residents with dementia to improve general well-being: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Dementia is often associated with Neuropsychiatric Symptoms (NPS) such as agitation, depression, hallucinations, anxiety, that can cause distress for the resident with dementia in long-term care settings and can impose emotional burden on the environment. NPS are often treated with psychotropic drugs, which, however, frequently cause side effects. Alternatively, non-pharmacological interventions can improve well-being and maintain an optimal quality of life (QoL) of those living with dementia.

Patterns of psychotropic drug prescriptions and general practice consultations among community-dwelling older people with dementia during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures had serious implications for community-dwelling older people with dementia. While the short-term impacts of the pandemic on this population have been well studied, there is limited research on its long-term impacts. Quantifying the long-term impacts may provide insights into whether healthcare adaptations are needed after the acute phase of the pandemic to balance infection prevention measures with healthcare provision.

Comparison of medical care needs and actual care in German and Dutch nursing home residents: A cross-sectional study conducted in neighboring European countries.

Objective: Assessing and comparing characteristics of German and Dutch nursing homes, their residents as well as residents' medical care needs and the actual provision of care.

Methods: Two surveys were conducted among 600 randomly selected nursing homes each from Germany and the Netherlands. Questionnaires were mailed in May 2022.

Usability of an app-based clinical decision support system to monitor psychotropic drug prescribing appropriateness in dementia.

Background: Guidelines recommend reluctant psychotropic drug (PD) prescribing in nursing home residents with dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), as efficacy of PDs is limited, and side effects are common. Nevertheless, PDs are commonly prescribed to reduce NPS. A smartphone application that evaluates appropriateness of PD prescriptions and provides recommendations from the revised Dutch guideline on problem behaviour in dementia may promote guideline adherence and increase appropriate prescribing.

The Moral and Gender Implications of Measures Used to Modulate the Mobility of People With Dementia Living in Residential Care Environments: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: Policies and measures often restrict the mobility of people with dementia living in residential care environments to protect them from harm. However, such measures can violate human rights and affect the quality of life. This review aims to summarize the literature on what is known about measures used to modulate the life-space mobility of residents with dementia living in a residential care environment.

The longitudinal patterns of psychotropic drug prescriptions for subpopulations of community-dwelling older people with dementia: electronic health records based retrospective study.

Background: Studies focusing on patterns of psychotropic drug prescriptions (PDPs) for subpopulations of community-dwelling older people with dementia are lacking.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the longitudinal patterns of PDPs in subpopulations.

Methods: This retrospective study used electronic health records from general practitioners (GPs) in the Netherlands.

Soundscape Awareness Intervention Reduced Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: A Cluster-Randomized Trial With MoSART.

Objectives: Auditory environments as perceived by an individual, also called soundscapes, are often suboptimal for nursing home residents. Poor soundscapes have been associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). We evaluated the effect of the Mobile Soundscape Appraisal and Recording Technology sound awareness intervention (MoSART+) on NPS in nursing home residents with dementia.

Cost-effectiveness of dementia training for caregivers in caregiver-patient dyads: A randomized controlled study.

Introduction: We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the "More at Home with Dementia" intervention, a multicomponent training program for co-residing caregivers of people with dementia (PwDs).

Methods: We performed a two-armed randomized controlled trial with an intervention and a control group. Participants were community-dwelling caregivers living with a person with dementia (59 randomized to intervention and 50 to control arm).

Soundscape Optimization in Nursing Homes Through Raising Awareness in Nursing Staff With MoSART.

Introduction: Soundscapes in nursing homes are often suboptimal for residents. This can cause them feeling anxious and unsafe, or develop behavioral and psychological problems. Residents with dementia cannot adapt nursing home environments to their needs due to cognitive and physical limitations.

Distancing Measures and Challenges Discussed by COVID-19 Outbreak Teams of Dutch Nursing Homes: The COVID-19 MINUTES Study.

The most severe COVID-19 infections and highest mortality rates are seen among long-term care residents. To reduce the risk of infection, physical distancing is important. This study investigates what physical distancing measures were discussed by COVID-19 outbreak teams of Dutch long-term care organizations and what challenges they encountered.

The Impact of Music on Stress Biomarkers: Protocol of a Substudy of the Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly Care (MIDDEL).

Recently, a large cluster-randomized controlled trial was designed-Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care (MIDDEL)-to assess the effectiveness of music interventions on depression in care home residents with dementia (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03496675). To understand the pathophysiological mechanisms, we observed the effect of repeated music interventions on stress in this population since chronic stress was associated with depression and an increased risk for dementia.

Job Demands, Work Functioning and Mental Health in Dutch Nursing Home Staff during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Study.

COVID-19 posed enormous challenges for nursing home staff, which may have caused stress and mental health problems. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of mental health problems among nursing home staff and investigate the differences in job demands, work functioning and mental health between staff with and without COVID contact or COVID infection and across different levels of COVID worries. In this cross-sectional study, 1669 employees from 10 nursing home organizations filled in an online questionnaire between June and September 2020.

Time trends in psychotropic drug prescriptions in Dutch nursing home residents with dementia between 2003 and 2018.

Objective: Several European studies investigated the trends in psychotropic drug prescriptions (PDPs) among nursing home (NH) residents and reported a decline in antipsychotics prescriptions. Since the Dutch long-term care system differs from other European systems (e.g.

COVID-19 management in nursing homes by outbreak teams (MINUTES) - study description and data characteristics: a qualitative study.

Objectives: Nursing homes are hit relatively hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dutch long-term care (LTC) organisations installed outbreak teams (OTs) to coordinate COVID-19 infection prevention and control. LTC organisations and relevant national policy organisations expressed the need to share experiences from these OTs that can be applied directly in COVID-19 policy.

Effects of Caregiver Dementia Training in Caregiver-Patient Dyads on Psychotropic Drug Prescription: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Purpose: Does participating in a multicomponent intervention targeting caregivers change the prescription rates of psychotropic drugs of caregivers or the person with dementia (PWD) they live with and care for.

Patients And Methods: Participants were 142 dyads of community-dwelling cohabiting caregivers and PWD randomized to intervention or control (care as usual). Participating caregivers received the intervention in a holiday accommodation over five days in groups of two to six dyads.

Individual differences in the temporal relationship between sleep and agitation: a single-subject study in nursing home residents with dementia experiencing sleep disturbance and agitation.

Objectives: Previous studies on the interrelationship between sleep and agitation relied on group-aggregates and so results may not be applicable to individuals. This proof-of-concept study presents the single-subject study design with time series analysis as a method to evaluate the association between sleep and agitation in individual nursing home residents using actigraphy.

Method: To record activity, three women and two men (aged 78-89 years) wore the MotionWatch 8© (MW8) for 9 consecutive weeks.

Caregiver dementia training in caregiver-patient dyads: Process evaluation of a randomized controlled study.

Objectives: We performed a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effects of caregiver training on the well-being of both people with dementia and their caregivers. Before the effect analysis, we conducted a process evaluation to estimate internal and external validity. This was anticipated to augment our understanding of the outcomes.