Development of the Life-Worldly Communication Scale to Improve Quality of Life: Daily Conversation as Care for Older Adults.

The lack of daily conversation may lead to the deterioration of quality of life and cognitive function in older adults requiring long-term care. This study aimed to develop a scale to measure daily conversation among them, the Life-Worldly Communication Scale: LWCS, and to test its structural, convergent, and discriminant validity. The subjects were 539 older adults requiring long-term care in facilities and at home.

Does Everyday Conversation Contribute to Cognitive Functioning? A Comparison of Brain Activity During Task-Oriented and Life-Worldly Communication Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

This study aimed to explore differences in frontal lobe brain activity associated with two types of communication: and , the latter of which largely overlaps with everyday conversation. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we explored differences by comparing oxygenated hemoglobin concentrations associated with periods of rest and conversation in two experimental groups comprising older and younger adults. Artifacts were removed from the signals using discrete wavelet transforms.

Education to promote verbal communication by caregivers in geriatric care facilities.

Aim: Our previous study divided the verbal communication between caregivers and elderly residents at geriatric care facilities into Type I communication (to elicit activities of daily living) and Type II communication (conversation that occurs in normal social life) and found that Type II communication promotes utterances by elderly residents. This study conducted an education intervention to promote Type II talking by caregivers and evaluated the results.

Methods: At three geriatric care facilities, 243 caregivers who might care for 36 elderly residents experienced training involving lectures and group discussion to understand the importance of Type II talking and how to apply it to their daily work.