Dementia Care Research and Psychosocial Factors.

Background: Dementia is strongly linked to increased care use, but the use of formal and informal care throughout dementia journey remains unclear.

Method: Within a population-based cohort study, we identified 240 older adults (aged ≥78 years) with who developed CIND and 155 with incident dementia. These participants were matched to 480 and 310 cognitively intact participants, respectively, and their formal and informal care use and care hours were compared with a control groups before and after diagnosis of cognitive disorders.

Sense of coherence, subjective burden, and anxiety and depression symptoms in caregivers of people with dementia: Causal dynamics unveiled by a longitudinal cohort study in Europe.

Background: Sense of coherence (SOC) is a disposition to perceive things as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. Lower SOC is associated with subjective burden and psychological morbidity in family caregivers, including in dementia. However, the evidence-base mainly comprises small-scale or cross-sectional studies.

Addressing relationship quality of people with dementia and their family carers: which profiles require most support?

Objective: The quality of the relationship between persons with dementia and family carers influences health and quality-of-life outcomes. Little is known regarding those at higher risk of experiencing a decline in relationship quality, who could potentially benefit the most from interventions. We aimed to identify these risk profiles and explore the underlying factors.

Antecedents of and experiences with voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age in Sweden.

Background: In most Western countries, senior workers have increased their participation in the workforce. However, at the same time, early retirement also increases. The reasons behind this early exit from the workforce are still unclear.

Health and work-related factors as predictors of still being active in working life at age 66 and 72 in a Swedish population: A longitudinal study.

Background: Health and work environment are known factors in being active in working life beyond legal retirement.

Objective: To investigate sociodemographic, health and work environment factors as possible predictors of being active in working life at ages 66 and 72. Secondly, investigate eventual changes over time, shortly after a major reform in the Swedish pension system, and predictors of still being active in working life at age 66.

Incentives behind and Experiences of Being Active in Working Life after Age 65 in Sweden.

Since individual and societal expectations regarding the possibility of an extended working life after the expected retirement age are increasing, research on sustainable working life combined with healthy ageing is needed. This study explores the incentives behind and experiences of an extended working life after the expected retirement age of 65 among Swedish people. The inductive qualitative content analyses are based on 18 individual semi-structured interviews among persons 67-90 years old with varying characteristics and varying experiences of extended working lives.

Trajectories of relationship quality in dementia: a longitudinal study in eight European countries.

Objectives: Relationship quality (RQ) between a person with dementia and a family carer may influence their health and quality of life. However, evidence regarding its course and influencing factors is limited. We aimed to explore RQ trajectories in dementia, and identify predictors of change.

Associations between unmet needs for daytime activities and company and scores on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire in people with dementia: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: To examine prospectively the association between unmet needs for daytime activities and company and behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Methods: We included 451 people with mild or moderate dementia, from eight European countries, who were assessed three times over 12 months. Unmet needs were measured with the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly.

Pain prevalence among residents living in nursing homes and its association with quality of life and well-being.

Background: Pain is common and often more complex to assess among nursing homes residents with cognitive impairments. Thus, more research is needed of different pain assessment methods in elderly care and how these assessments outcomes are related to quality of life, as there mostly should be a negative relationship. There is a risk that pain are under diagnosed among persons with cognitive impairment.

Factors associated with improvement in depressive symptoms among older persons after hospitalisation - a prospective design with two follow-ups.

Background: Depression is a common disorder in old age and increases with hospitalisation. The aim was to investigate whether improvement in depressive symptoms after hospitalisation is associated with education level, age, gender, living situation, self-efficacy, activities in daily living and quality of life by (1) examining the prevalence of depressive symptoms at baseline and at 1st and 2nd follow-up (2) examining different factors' association with depressive symptoms at baseline and (3) examining different factors' association with improvement in depressive symptoms at baseline and at 1st and 2nd follow-up.

Methods: The study consisted of 145 patients, 65 years and older.

"Longing to be independent again" - A qualitative study on older adults' experiences of life after hospitalization.

It is important to support older adults' independence after hospitalization and, thus, to increase their perceived quality of life. The present descriptive study took a qualitative approach and aimed to describe older adults' experiences of their life situation after hospital discharge. Fifteen individuals (≥65 years) from two regional hospitals in central Sweden were interviewed between October 2015 and January 2016 in their own home following hospital discharge.

Optimizing access to and use of formal dementia care: Qualitative findings from the European Actifcare study.

This paper reports on qualitative data from the Actifcare study investigating experiences, attitudes, barriers and facilitators concerning access to and use of formal care. A total of 85 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in eight European countries. Results were analysed with a deductive content analysis, first within country and then integrated in a cross-national analysis.

Interventions to enhance access to and utilization of formal community care services for home dwelling persons with dementia and their informal carers. A scoping review.

Home dwelling people with dementia and their informal carers often do not receive the formal care services they need. This study examined and mapped the research regarding interventions to improve access and use of formal community care services. This is a scoping review with searches in PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Social Science Citation index and searches of grey literature in international and national databases.

Barriers and facilitators to the access to and use of formal dementia care: findings of a focus group study with people with dementia, informal carers and health and social care professionals in eight European countries.

Background: People with dementia and informal carers often access formal care late in the process of dementia. The barriers and facilitators to service use from the perspectives of different stakeholders involved are not well understood. Thus, we aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators of access to and utilisation of formal care from the perspectives of people with dementia, their informal carers and health and social care professionals.

Perspectives of policy and political decision makers on access to formal dementia care: expert interviews in eight European countries.

Background: As part of the ActifCare (ACcess to Timely Formal Care) project, we conducted expert interviews in eight European countries with policy and political decision makers, or representatives of relevant institutions, to determine their perspectives on access to formal care for people with dementia and their carers.

Methods: Each ActifCare country (Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom) conducted semi-structured interviews with 4-7 experts (total N = 38). The interview guide addressed the topics "Complexity and Continuity of Care", "Formal Services", and "Public Awareness".

Access to community care for people with dementia and their informal carers : Case vignettes for a European comparison of structures and common pathways to formal care.

Background: People with dementia and their informal carers often do not receive appropriate professional support or it is not received at the right time.

Objectives: Description and comparison of common pathways to formal community dementia care in eight European countries as a part of the transnational Actifcare project.

Materials And Methods: The German team was responsible for creating an individual case scenario as a starting point.

The changing prevalence and incidence of dementia over time - current evidence.

Dementia is an increasing focus for policymakers, civil organizations and multidisciplinary researchers. The most recent descriptive epidemiological research into dementia is enabling investigation into how the prevalence and incidence are changing over time. To establish clear trends, such comparisons need to be founded on population-based studies that use similar diagnostic and research methods consistently over time.

Systematic pain assessment in nursing homes: a cluster-randomized trial using mixed-methods approach.

Background: Chronic pain affects nursing home residents' daily life. Pain assessment is central to adequate pain management. The overall aim was to investigate effects of a pain management intervention on nursing homes residents and to describe staffs' experiences of the intervention.

Formal and Informal Care of Community-Living Older People: A Population-Based Study from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care.

Objectives: Study formal and informal care of community-living older people in the Swedish National study of Aging and Care (SNAC).

Design: Cross-sectional, population based cohort.

Setting: Three areas in Sweden: Municipality of Nordanstig, Stockholm and Skåne County.

Debates in Rehabilitation Medicine: A Collaborative Initiative of the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine & Dear readers and authors of the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.

No abstract is available.

Cohort Effects in the Prevalence and Survival of People with Dementia in a Rural Area in Northern Sweden.

Background: Recent studies suggest that trends in cardiovascular risk may result in a decrease in age-specific prevalence of dementia. Studies in rural areas are rare.

Objectives: To study cohort effects in dementia prevalence and survival of people with dementia in a Swedish rural area.