Beyond Caregiving: Daily Pleasant Activities among Caregivers to Older Adults with and without Dementia.

Objectives: Limited research has explored caregivers' activities beyond caregiving duties, which may offer positive experiences and counterbalance caregiving stress. This study aimed to (a) identify the most pleasant non-caregiving activities, (b) assess time allocation based on activity categories and pleasantness, and (c) investigate the association between activity pleasantness and duration, considering differences between caregivers to older adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and those without.

Methods: This study included 2,136 caregivers (33% ADRD) from the 2017 National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) who participated in a time diary interview.

Using Deep Learning Neural Networks to Improve Dementia Detection: Automating Coding of the Clock-Drawing Test.

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) is a growing public health concern. The clock-drawing test (CDT), where subjects draw a clock, typically with hands showing 11:10, has been widely used for ADRD-screening. A limitation of including CDT in large-scale studies is that the CDT requires manual coding, which could result in biases if coders interpret and implement coding rules differently.

Examining Care Network Characteristics in Older Adults' Relocation to Residential Care Settings.

Background And Objectives: When older adults face increasing care needs or limited support, remaining safely and comfortably at home becomes challenging. Extant research has primarily concentrated on characteristics of the older adult or their primary caregiver on nursing home admission. This study examines the risk of older adults transitioning to residential care (e.

Caregiving Trajectories and Unmet Care Needs in Later Life.

Background And Objectives: The evolution of care networks accompanying older adults' changing care needs-and implications for unmet care needs-are not well described.

Research Design And Methods: Using group-based trajectory models, we identify 4 incident care need patterns ("care need trajectory groups") for 1,038 older adults in the 2012-2018 National Health and Aging Trends Study and 5 caregiving patterns ("caregiving trajectory groups") and a transient group among their 4,106 caregivers. We model associations between care need/caregiving trajectory groups and the rate of (approximating the proportion of rounds with) unmet care needs.