Guidance for family about comfort care in dementia: a comparison of an educational booklet adopted in six jurisdictions over a 15 year timespan.

Background: To support family caregivers of people with dementia in end-of-life decision making, a family booklet on comfort care has been adapted and adopted by several European jurisdictions since the original publication in Canada in 2005.

Methods: We analyzed and compared the adaptations to the family booklets used in Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland that were made up to 2021. Qualitative content analysis was used to create a typology of changes to the original booklet.

Geriatric Depression and Inappropriate Medication: Benefits of Interprofessional Team Cooperation in Nursing Homes.

An investigation of inappropriate medication use in treatment of depressivity in institutionalized older adults, based on a nurse-led evaluation of functional status and depressive symptoms in nursing home residents. A cross-sectional multicenter study was performed using records from 1087 residents cared for in fifteen nursing homes (NHs) in the Czech Republic. Inclusion criteria were being a permanent resident of one of the facilities, being 60 years of age or older, having a Geriatric Depression Scale score of 6 or more, and having a Mini Mental State examination score 10 or more.

Palliative Care in Advanced Dementia: Comparison of Strategies in Three Countries.

Palliative care including hospice care is appropriate for advanced dementia, but policy initiatives and implementation have lagged, while treatment may vary. We compare care for people with advanced dementia in the United States (US), The Netherlands, and Israel. We conducted a narrative literature review and expert physician consultation around a case scenario focusing on three domains in the care of people with advanced dementia: (1) place of residence, (2) access to palliative care, and (3) treatment.

Prevalence of psychotropic polypharmacy in nursing home residents with dementia: a meta-analysis.

Objectives: Nursing home (NH) residents with dementia is exposed to high rates of psychotropic prescriptions. Our objectives were to: (1) pool the prevalence estimates of psychotropic polypharmacy from the existing literature and (2) examine potentially influential factors that are related to a higher or lower prevalence.

Design: Meta-analysis of data collected from randomized trials, quasi-experimental, prospective or retrospective cohort, and cross-sectional studies.

Physiological and pathological functions of beta-amyloid in the brain and alzheimer's disease: A review.

Alzheimer's disease is a major health problem all over the world. The role of beta-amyloid (Aβ) is at the center of investigations trying to discover the disease pathogenesis and to develop drugs for treatment or prevention on Alzheimer's disease. This review summarizes both physiological and pathological functions of Aβ and factors that may participate in the disease development.

Importance of Distinguishing Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Dementia Care.

Aggressive behavior is one of the most disturbing symptoms of Alzheimer disease and other progressive neurodegenerative dementias. Development of strategies for management of aggressive behaviors in people with dementia is hindered by a lack of recognition that aggression is not a uniform behavioral construct. It is possible to distinguish 2 types of aggression: reactive or impulsive aggression and proactive or premeditated aggression.

Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of the Namaste Care program in long-term care settings in Canada.

Background: Residents living and dying in long-term care (LTC) homes represent one of society's most frail and marginalized populations of older adults, particularly those residents with advanced dementia who are often excluded from activities that promote quality of life in their last months of life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effects of Namaste Care: an innovative program to improve end-of-life care for people with advanced dementia.

Methods: This study used a mixed-method survey design to evaluate the Namaste Care program in two LTC homes in Canada.

Cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease with excessive daytime sleepiness: a systematic review.

This systematic review synthesizes the most recent literature on neuropsychological deficits in adults with Parkinson's disease who experience excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Confounds and methodological limitations are explored. A framework entitled the Cascade Model of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (CMEDS) is proposed to explain the role of EDS in contributing to cognitive impairment for patients with Parkinson's disease.

Review of Programs for Persons Facing Death with Dementia.

Background: Persons with advanced dementia cannot initiate activities because of the executive dysfunction. The lack of activities was identified as one of the most important factors contributing to behavioral problems of these persons. The unmet needs were boredom/sensory deprivation, loneliness/need for social interaction, and need for meaningful activities.

Ratings of activities of daily living in nursing home residents: comparison of self- and proxy ratings with actual performance and the impact of cognitive status.

This study was conducted to examine differences between self- and proxy ratings of activities in daily living (ADL) in nursing home residents and to compare them with actual performance. An impact of cognitive status on these ratings was also determined. Data were obtained from 164 dyads of nursing home residents (self-ratings) and their professional care providers (proxy ratings).

Behavioral Problems and Dementia.

Behavioral problems decrease quality of life of people with dementia and their care providers. Three main consequences of dementia are functional impairment and in some cases also mood disorders and psychosis. These consequences, alone or in combination, result in 3 main behavioral problems: apathy, agitation, and rejection of care/aggression.

Effects of the Namaste Care Family programme on quality of life of nursing home residents with advanced dementia and on family caregiving experiences: study protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Quality of life of people with advanced dementia living in nursing homes is often suboptimal. Family caregivers can feel frustrated with limited contact with their relatives, which results in visits that are perceived as stressful and not very meaningful. Few psychosocial interventions are specifically developed for people with advanced dementia, and actively involve family caregivers or volunteers.

Implementing the Namaste Care Program for residents with advanced dementia: exploring the perceptions of families and staff in UK care homes.

Background: Increasing numbers of older people with advanced dementia are cared for in care homes. No cure is available, so research focused on improving quality of life and quality of care for people with dementia is needed to support them to live and die well. The Namaste Care programme is a multi-dimensional care program with sensory, psycho-social and spiritual components intended to enhance quality of life and quality of care for people with advanced dementia.

Measurement of agitation and aggression in adult and aged neuropsychiatric patients: review of definitions and frequently used measurement scales.

Agitation and aggression in adult psychiatric patients with psychoses and in persons with dementia increase the burden of disease and frequently cause hospitalization. The implementation of currently available management strategies and the development of new ones is hindered by inconsistent terminology that confuses agitation with aggression. This confusion is maintained by many rating scales that fail to distinguish between these two syndromes.

Assessment of Diagnostics Tools for Sarcopenia Severity Using the Item Response Theory (IRT).

Objective: To use the item response theory (IRT) methods to examine the degree to which the four selected tools reflect sarcopenia and to arrange them according to their ability to estimate sarcopenia severity.

Design: A cross-sectional study aimed at verifying the possibilities of using diagnostic tools for sarcopenia.

Setting And Participants: The study included residents living in an assisted living unit at the Senior Centre in Blansko (South Moravia, Czech Republic) (n=77).

Predicting mortality in patients treated differently: updating and external validation of a prediction model for nursing home residents with dementia and lower respiratory infections.

Objective: To evaluate whether a model that was previously developed to predict 14-day mortality for nursing home residents with dementia and lower respiratory tract infection who received antibiotics could be applied to residents who were not treated with antibiotics. Specifically, in this same data set, to update the model using recalibration methods; and subsequently examine the historical, geographical, methodological and spectrum transportability through external validation of the updated model.

Design: 1 cohort study was used to develop the prediction model, and 4 cohort studies from 2 countries were used for the external validation of the model.