Impact of social phone programs on loneliness and mood in older adults: a mixed methods systematic review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this mixed methods review is to examine the effectiveness and experience of social phone programs on loneliness and/or mood in community-dwelling older adults.

Introduction: There is a large and growing older adult population that is burdened with loneliness. Loneliness affects both physical and mental health, and it is, therefore, imperative to examine ways of mitigating experiences of loneliness.

Pain assessment as intervention: a study of older adults with severe dementia.

Objectives: The communication impairments that characterize severe dementia make pain assessment challenging. As such, pain problems often go undetected. Our goal was to determine whether systematic pain assessment leads to improved pain management practices and decreases nursing stress in comparison with a control condition.

[Validity 'and Utilities' clinic of a grid observation (PACSLAC-F) to evaluate the pain in seniors with dementia's living in the Long-Term Care ].

This study presents the validation of the French Canadian version (PACLSAC-F) of the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate (PACSLAC). Unlike the published validation of the English version of the PACSLAC, which was validated retrospectively, the French version was validated prospectively. The PACSLAC-F was completed by nurses working in long-term care facilities after observing 86 seniors, with severe cognitive impairment, in calm, painful or distressing but non-painful situations.

Identical elements model of arithmetic memory: extension to addition and subtraction.

The identical elements (IE) model of arithmetic fact representation (Rickard, 2005; Rickard & Bourne, 1996) was developed and tested with multiplication and division. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that the model also applies to addition and subtraction by examining transfer of response time (RT) savings between prime and probe problems tested in the same block of trials. As is predicted by the IE model, there were equivalent probe RT savings for addition with identical repetition (prime 6 + 9 --> probe 6 + 9) or an order change (9 + 6 --> 6 + 9), but much greater savings for subtraction with identical repetition (15 - 6 --> 15 - 6) than with an order change (15 - 9 --> 15 - 6), and no savings with an operation change (15 - 9 --> 6 + 9 or 6 + 9 --> 4 15 - 6).

Development and preliminary validation of the pain assessment checklist for seniors with limited ability to communicate (PACSLAC).

The purpose of this study, conducted in three phases, was to develop a clinically useful observational tool (i.e., the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors With Limited Ability to Communicate [PACSLAC]) to assess pain in seniors with severe dementia.

Comparing two observational systems in the assessment of knee pain.

Objective: Research has demonstrated the utility of the Pain Behavior Measurement (PBM) system as a pain index. PBM involves the recording of sighing, rubbing, grimacing, guarding and bracing. A modification of this system has been proposed, focusing on the occurrence of joint flexing, rubbing, unloading the joint, guarding and rigidity, specifically for patients with knee pain.

The ethical ideologies of psychologists and physicians: a preliminary comparison.

The ethical ideologies of psychologists (who provide health services) and physicians were compared using the Ethics Position Questionnaire. The findings reveal that psychologists tend to be less relativistic than physicians. Further, we explored the degree to which physicians and psychologists report being influenced by a variety of factors (e.