The Experiences of Informal Caregivers of People With Dementia in Web-Based Psychoeducation Programs: Systematic Review and Metasynthesis.

Background: Informal caregivers of people living with dementia experience a higher level of physical and mental stress compared with other types of caregivers. Psychoeducation programs are viewed as beneficial for building caregivers' knowledge and skills and for decreasing caregiver stress.

Objective: This review aimed to synthesize the experiences and perceptions of informal caregivers of people with dementia when participating in web-based psychoeducation programs and the factors that enable and impede informal caregivers' engagement in web-based psychoeducation programs.

Effects of diabetes mellitus on step length and minimum toe clearance adaptation.

Background: Adaptive gait involves the ability to adjust the leading foot in response to the requirement of dynamic environments during walking. Accurate adjustments of the minimum toe clearance (MTC) height and step length can prevent older people from falling when walking and responding to hazards. Although older people with diabetes fall more frequently than healthy older adults, no previous studies have quantified their adaptive gait abilities.

Weaving Evidence into Action for Veterans with Dementia (WEAVE): Evaluation of implementation into long-term care practice.

Rationale: Veterans living with dementia in long-term care have complex needs, with variable manifestation of symptoms of dementia that interact with their lived experience. Best practice dementia care prioritises nonpharmacological interventions; of which few have strong evidence. Implementation of evidence is complex, with evaluation of outcomes and processes necessary.

Weaving Evidence into Action for Veterans with dementia (WEAVE): Codesigning the implementation of nonpharmacological interventions for programme fidelity and sustainability.

Rationale: Challenges associated with translating evidence into practice are well recognised and calls for effective strategies to reduce the time lag and successfully embed evidence-based practices into usual care are loud and clear. While a plethora of nonpharmacological interventions for people with dementia exist; few are based on strong evidence and there is little consideration for programme operationalisation in the complex environment of long-term care.

Aims And Objectives: This paper describes the preparation for the implementation of the Weaving Evidence into Action for Veterans with dementia project, incorporating the codesign of delivery of four evidence-based, nonpharmacological interventions.

A mixed methods study investigating the quality of urinary and faecal continence assessment and management in residential aged care: Challenges, implications and solutions.

Objective: Incontinence is one of the main reasons for institutionalisation into residential aged care. It is linked with increased falls, skin breakdown, depression, social isolation and impaired quality of life. Studies over the past decade have demonstrated poor-quality incontinence care, which has led to ongoing development of best practice guidelines and educational resources.

The effectiveness of internet-based psychoeducation programs for caregivers of people living with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to identify the characteristics of internet-based psychoeducational programs for caregivers of people living with dementia and to synthesise program effectiveness.

Method: Five English databases and four Chinese databases were searched in June 2021 with no time limit applied. A narrative summary was performed to describe the characteristics of studies reviewed.

The Potential for Effect of a Six-Week Training Program for Gait Aid Use in Older People with Dementia with Unsteadiness of Gait: A Pilot Study.

This study examined the potential for effect of a six-week gait aid training program for people with dementia on spatiotemporal gait outcomes, perception of use, and falls with gait aid use. The program utilised four 30-min physiotherapy home visits, scheduled at weeks 1/2/3/6, and was enhanced by carer-supervised practice. Falls and the physiotherapist's clinical judgement of participants achieving safe gait aid use during and after the program were described.

Protocol for a process evaluation of a stepped wedge randomised controlled trial to reduce unnecessary hospitalisations of older people from residential aged care: the EDDIE+ study.

Introduction: The Early Detection of Deterioration in Elderly residents (EDDIE+) programme is a theory-informed, multi-component intervention aimed at upskilling and empowering nursing and personal care staff to identify and manage early signs of deterioration in residents of aged care facilities. The intervention aims to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions from residential aged care (RAC) homes. Alongside a stepped wedge randomised controlled trial, an embedded process evaluation will be conducted to assess the fidelity, acceptability, mechanisms of action and contextual barriers and enablers of the EDDIE+ intervention.

Risk Negotiation With People With Dementia: From Co-designed Paper Version to Implementation Preparation of an Electronic Conversation Tool.

The home care workforce provides essential support for older people with dementia to live a life of fulfillment. "," an evidence-informed conversation tool, aims to negotiate risk around everyday activities between home care workers, people with dementia and their informal carers. This paper describes tool conversion into electronic format and preparation for implementation throughout a large Australian health and aged care service provider, utilizing the Implementation Framework for Aged Care (IFAC).

Reconceptualizing Stigmas in Aged Care: A Typology of Stigmatizing Discourses in the Aged-Care Context.

Background And Objectives: Stigmatizing discourses surrounding aged care is complex. The stigma associated with people working in aged care is often conflated with negative evaluations about older adults who receive care and/or the institutions and systems that provide these services. This lack of nuance hampers productive dialogue in gerontology required for making sense of the stigmas attached to entities and systems.

Advance planning for research participation: Time to translate this innovation into practice.

Objectives: Advance planning for research is a process that involves thinking about, discussing and expressing preferences for taking part in research during future periods of incapacity. The process may include making an advance research directive and naming trusted people to be involved in decisions about research participation. Advance research planning could help to overcome barriers to including people with dementia in research.

Examining gait aid use and user safety by older people with dementia: Perspectives of informal carers to inform practice.

Purpose: To determine gait aid use and decision-making related to usage in people with dementia, and examine factors influencing (1) gait aid use or not; and (2) falls in past year.

Materials And Methods: A survey of informal carers of older people with dementia in the community. Closed questions on gait aid use, falls, timing and sources of gait aid acquisition, and advice received to support use were used.

Computerised prediction of healing for venous leg ulcers.

Early prediction of delayed healing for venous leg ulcers could improve management outcomes by enabling earlier initiation of adjuvant therapies. In this paper, we propose a framework for computerised prediction of healing for venous leg ulcers assessed in home settings using thermal images of the 0 week. Wound data of 56 older participants over 12 weeks were used for the study.

Quality of life of older Australians receiving home nursing services for complex care needs.

Older Australians may live up to 10 years in ill health, most likely chronic disease-related. Those with multimorbidity report more healthcare visits, poorer health and take more medications compared with people with a single chronic disease. They are also at higher risk of hospital admission and poor quality of life.

Assessing Older Community Members Using a Social Work Tool: Developing an Organizational Response.

Social Worker's undertake psycho-social assessments and facilitate access to evidence-informed psychological and practical supports to optimize the physical, psychological, and social wellbeing of the community members in their care. Social workers employed at an aged and community care organization undertook a review of the gray and peer reviewed literature and did not identify any existing evidence-based tools. However, 10 key domains were identified from the search.

Cycling Without Age: An Australian residential aged care home experience.

Objective: Cycling Without Age (CWA) involves taking residents on outdoor trishaw (electric bicycle) rides driven by trained 'pilots'. This study explored the CWA experience from the perspective of residents and family members, staff and volunteer pilots from a residential aged care home in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used.

Creating 'Partnership in iSupport program' to optimise family carers' impact on dementia care: a randomised controlled trial protocol.

Background: The majority of people with dementia are cared for by their family members. However, family carers are often unprepared for their caring roles, receiving less education and support compared with professional carers. The consequences are their reduced mental and physical health and wellbeing, and that of care recipients.

Volunteer peer support frameworks supporting older women living alone.

Volunteer peer support is an approach that enables a supportive connection between volunteers and a sub-set of community members with shared experiences or interests. To implement co-designed strategies to support older women to maintain independence and optimise wellbeing in Australia, a volunteer peer support approach was proposed. There was limited literature describing volunteer peer support frameworks to underpin interventions of this kind; and given the increasing desire for engagement of individuals and communities, articulation of the key components of such a framework is warranted.

The association between polypharmacy, frailty and disability-free survival in community-dwelling healthy older individuals.

Objectives: Polypharmacy and frailty are two common geriatric conditions. In community-dwelling healthy older adults, we examined whether polypharmacy is associated with frailty and affects disability-free survival (DFS), assessed as a composite of death, dementia, or persistent physical disability.

Methods: We included 19,114 participants (median age 74.

A survey of nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists in mobility care and gait aid use for hospital patients with dementia.

This study described mobility care practice of nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists and gait aid use for hospital patients with dementia. Two surveys, tailored to staff mobility care roles were distributed in Australian hospitals. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists were asked additional questions regarding assessments and factors for prescribing gait aids to patients with dementia.

A codesigned fit-for-purpose implementation framework for aged care.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: The field of implementation science is critical for embedding research evidence into healthcare practice, benefiting individuals, organizations, governments, and the broader community. Implementation science is messy and complex, underpinned by many theories and frameworks. Efficacious interventions for older people with multiple comorbidities exist, yet many lack effectiveness evaluation relevant to pragmatic implementation within aged care practice.

Validation of a residential aged care consumer experience survey, 2019.

Objective: Residential aged care (RAC) quality is often measured as part of regulatory compliance. To inform care delivery and service improvements, we developed a consumer experience survey.

Methods: Validation study incorporating 2018-2019 survey data (n = 1504 individuals, 25 RAC homes) and test-retest reliability evaluation.

Advocating the rights of people with dementia to contribute to research: Considerations for researchers and ethics committees.

Objective: Research involving people with dementia is vital to appropriately inform policy and practice decisions affecting this population. As dementia-care researchers, we frequently advocate to Human Research Ethics Committees for the right of people with dementia to choose whether to participate in research. This brief report provides some considerations for researchers and ethics committees.

Effects of a physical activity intervention on brain atrophy in older adults at risk of dementia: a randomized controlled trial.

Lack of physical activity is a risk factor for dementia, however, the utility of interventional physical activity programs as a protective measure against brain atrophy and cognitive decline is uncertain. Here we present the effect of a randomized controlled trial of a 24-month physical activity intervention on global and regional brain atrophy as characterized by longitudinal voxel-based morphometry with T1-weighted MRI images. The study sample consisted of 98 participants at risk of dementia, with mild cognitive impairment or subjective memory complaints, and having at least one vascular risk factor for dementia, randomized into an exercise group and a control group.

Co-designing Being Your Best program-A holistic approach to frailty in older community dwelling Australians.

Frailty is a condition characterised by increased vulnerability and decline of physical and cognitive reserves, most often affecting older people. This can lead to a cascade of repeated hospitalisations, further decline and ultimately loss of independence. Frailty and pre-frailty are modifiable; interventions such as physical exercise, cognitive training, social connection and improved nutrition, especially in a group setting, can mitigate frailty.