Our study analyzes the effects of the permanent presence of cats on the health and social network of residents with pathologies in nursing home. Fifty-three residents, thirty-six caregivers, and four cats in three Alzheimer's Disease units ("ADU") and one Disability unit ("DISU") were observed for 180 hours. Social networks were created via instantaneous sampling of physical proximities and social exchanges between residents, caregivers, and the cats. Our results showed that: (1) the four units behave similarly in the presence or absence of a cat (2) cats are placed at the periphery of the network and interact with residents showing a keen interest in them, and (3) caregivers who are in strong contact with the cat show a greater number of social interactions in their unit. This study, using for the first time a social network approach, opens up a new field of understanding of human-animal relationships in a care dimension.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/07334648241252002 | DOI Listing |
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry
December 2024
Department of Gerontology, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel. Electronic address:
Objective: Unidentified sex differences in old-age cognition may emerge in psychometric networks, which look beyond mean scores into the unique cognitive structure of males and females. Accordingly, this study aims to examine cognition in well-functioning older males and females with psychometric network analysis.
Methods: The current cohort (N = 2,802) of community-dwelling adults (≥65 years) was derived from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study.
ESMO Open
January 2025
Office of Quality and Value, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA.
Many patients with cancer approaching the end of life (EOL) continue to receive treatments that are unlikely to provide meaningful clinical benefit, potentially causing more harm than good. This is called overtreatment at the EOL. Overtreatment harms patients by causing side-effects, increasing health care costs, delaying important discussions about and preparation for EOL care, and occasionally accelerating death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Opin Psychol
December 2024
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom; Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS), University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Accumulating evidence suggests that stigma is a pervasive and pernicious psychosocial phenomenon that affects people living with chronic pain. In this narrative review, we describe the nature of stigma experienced by people with chronic pain and discuss its multifaceted determinants. These determinants include features of pain itself and intersectional factors, including comorbid conditions and social marginalization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeriatr Nurs
January 2025
Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, PR China. Electronic address:
Background: Social isolation is a significant risk factor for depressive symptoms in older adults, with social support and resilience serving as protective factors. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed of 1020 participants (aged ≥ 60years) in the northern, central and southern parts of Jiangsu Province, China.
J Environ Manage
January 2025
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, United States. Electronic address:
In the management of reservoirs, different forms of infrastructure (such as dams, hydropower units, information) are functionally interdependent and often managed by different types of actors to form a social-ecological-technological system. Such interdependence also occurs because institutions (understood as rules that guide and constrain actor behavior) exist to indicate how infrastructures should be managed. We apply institutional analysis and social network analysis to identify how functionally interdependent infrastructures and actors are connected by formal rules created to manage reservoir operations in Argentina (Ameghino Dam, Chubut) and the United States (Coyote Valley Dam, California).
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