Insights into the associated risk factors of malnutrition among nursing home residents: A longitudinal study.

Background & Aims: Malnutrition often remains undetected in older persons, leading to increased health problems and comorbidity, prolonged hospital stays and readmissions. In 2020, data from the interRAI Home Care (interRAI HC) instrument was used to determine malnutrition status according to some of the criteria of the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM). The interRAI HC instrument showed to be effective as a screening tool for the risk of malnutrition.

The intergroup dynamics of political cynicism: how perceived discrimination, outsiderness, and social capital relate to political cynicism among Moroccan and Turkish Belgians.

Introduction: This study examines how intergroup dynamics shape political cynicism among Belgians of Turkish and Moroccan descent. Concretely, we examine whether perceptions of discrimination, feelings of ethnic outsiderness and social capital (in terms of associational membership) can explain minorities' belief that political elites are selfish, incompetent, and immoral.

Methods: We analyse data from the Belgian Ethnic Minorities Election Study 2014.

How does the external context affect an implementation processes? A qualitative study investigating the impact of macro-level variables on the implementation of goal-oriented primary care.

Background: Although the importance of context in implementation science is not disputed, knowledge about the actual impact of external context variables on implementation processes remains rather fragmented. Current frameworks, models, and studies merely describe macro-level barriers and facilitators, without acknowledging their dynamic character and how they impact and steer implementation. Including organizational theories in implementation frameworks could be a way of tackling this problem.

Clinician perspectives on policy approaches to genetic risk disclosure in families.

Genomic sequencing has emerged as a powerful tool with significant implications for patients and their relatives, however, empirical evidence suggests that effective dissemination of risk information within families remains a challenge. Policy responses to address this issue vary across countries, with Belgium notably lacking specific regulations governing nondisclosure of genetic risk. In this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with clinicians from Belgian clinical genetics centers to gain insight into their perspectives on policy approaches to the disclosure of genetic risk within families.

Promoting meaningful activities by occupational therapy in elderly care in Belgium: the ProMOTE intervention.

Background: Older people want to age in place. Despite advancing functional limitations and their desire of aging in place, they are not always faithful to therapy that maintains independence and promotes safety. Occupational therapists can facilitate aging in place.

The prevalence of non-pharmacological interventions in older homecare recipients: an overview from six European countries.

Purpose: Non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) play an important role in the management of older people receiving homecare. However, little is known about how often specific NPIs are being used and to what extent usage varies between countries. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of NPIs in older homecare recipients in six European countries.

The willingness and barriers to collaborate in the care of frail older adults: perspectives of primary care professionals.

Background: This study investigated the perspectives of primary care professionals, in particular general practitioners, registered nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, on inter-professional collaboration, the barriers and the facilitators they perceive in the care of the frail older population.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study. In-depth interviews with healthcare professionals were performed, using open-ended questions about their perceptions on the care of frail older adults and inter-professional collaboration.

Will the implementation process for goal-oriented primary care succeed? A qualitative study investigating five perceived attributes of goal-oriented care.

Throughout the western world, goal oriented care (GOC) is increasingly promoted as a strategy towards more person-centered, integrated care. The implementation of goal-oriented care not only takes place at the micro-level with individual primary care providers (PCPs) changing their approach, but also requires meso- and macro-level investment. In this study, we zoom in on experiences and actions of various meso- and macro-level actors that are actively engaged with implementing GOC, both within their organization or at the policy level.

International Delphi Study to Optimize the Oral Health Section in interRAI.

The oral health (OH) of care-dependent older people is generally poor. Since caregivers are mainly responsible for older people's daily care, they can be considered important intermediaries to improve their OH by performing regular OH assessments. The interRAI instruments are introduced in 37 countries to assess care needs and facilitate care planning across different health care settings.

Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty.

This study explores how researchers' analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis.

The Patient Perspective of Telemedicine in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic might be considered as a catalyst for transformation in healthcare experience via the use of video consultation as a method for telemedicine. The aim of our qualitative study is to understand the patient perception of video consultations in telemedicine, which has been used by a single pulmonologist in only one university hospital in Turkey since the first three months of the pandemic. Research findings are essential when it comes to a more effective and widespread future use of telemedicine, as it focuses on patient experience about a medical technology that is newly introduced.

A multi-stage process to develop quality indicators for community-based palliative care using interRAI data.

Background: Individuals receiving palliative care (PC) are generally thought to prefer to receive care and die in their homes, yet little research has assessed the quality of home- and community-based PC. This project developed a set of valid and reliable quality indicators (QIs) that can be generated using data that are already gathered with interRAI assessments-an internationally validated set of tools commonly used in North America for home care clients. The QIs can serve as decision-support measures to assist providers and decision makers in delivering optimal care to individuals and their families.

Examining Care Assessment Scores of Community-Dwelling Adults in Flanders, Belgium: The Role of Socio-Psychological and Assessor-Related Factors.

One of the primary objectives of health systems is to provide a fair system by providing a comprehensive and holistic approach to caregiving rather than focusing on a single aspect of a person's care needs. This approach is often embodied by using standardized care assessments across health and social care settings. These assessments are completed by professional assessors and yield vital information regarding a person's health or contextual characteristics (e.

Predicting unplanned hospital visits in older home care recipients: a cross-country external validation study.

Background: Accurate identification of older persons at risk of unplanned hospital visits can facilitate preventive interventions. Several risk scores have been developed to identify older adults at risk of unplanned hospital visits. It is unclear whether risk scores developed in one country, perform as well in another.

Conceptualising relevant social context indicators for people receiving home care: A multi-method approach in Flanders, Belgium.

Despite an increasing awareness of the impact of the social context of a person on personalised care planning, there is currently no generally accepted classification of social context. As a result, home care professionals have a partial understanding of what social context is and how it affects and can even benefit their work. In this study, we define the main themes and concepts of the social context in the home care setting.

Assessments of Heart Failure and Frailty-Related Health Instability Provide Complementary and Useful Information for Home-Care Planning and Prognosis.

Background: Health instability, measured with the Changes in Health and End-Stage Disease Signs and Symptoms (CHESS) scale, predicts hospitalizations and mortality in home-care clients. Heart failure (HF) is also common among home-care clients. We seek to understand how HF contributes to the odds of death, hospitalization, or worsening health among new home-care clients, depending on admission health instability.

Disclosure of genetic information to family members: a systematic review of normative documents.

Purpose: Findings from genomic sequencing can have important implications for patients and family members. Yet, when a patient does not consent to the disclosure of genetic information to relatives, it is unclear how health-care professionals (HCPs) should balance their responsibilities toward patients and their family members and whether breaches in confidentiality are warranted.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of normative documents to understand how HCPs should discuss and facilitate family disclosure, and what should be done in cases where the patient does not consent to disclosure.

Benchmarking European Home Care Models for Older Persons on Societal Costs: The IBenC Study.

This study aims to benchmark mean societal costs per client in different home care models and to describe characteristics of home care models with the lowest societal costs. In this prospective longitudinal study in 6 European countries, 6-month societal costs of resource utilization of 2060 older home care clients were estimated. Three care models were identified and compared based on level of patient-centered care (PCC), availability of specialized professionals (ASP) and level of monitoring of care performance (MCP).

How can big data shape the field of non-religion studies? And why does it matter?

The shift of attention from the decline of organized religion to the rise of post-Christian spiritualities, anti-religious positions, secularity, and religious indifference has coincided with the deconstruction of the binary distinction between "religion" and "non-religion"-initiated by spirituality studies throughout the 1980s and recently resumed by the emerging field of non-religion studies. The current state of cross-national surveys makes it difficult to address the new theoretical concerns due to (1) lack of theoretically relevant variables, (2) lack of longitudinal data to track historical changes in non-religious positions, and (3) difficulties in accessing small and/or hardly reachable sub-populations of religious nones. We explore how user profiling, text analytics, automatic image classification, and various research designs based on the integration of survey methods and big data can address these issues as well as shape non-religion studies, promote its institutionalization, stimulate interdisciplinary cooperation, and improve the understanding of non-religion by redefining current methodological practices.

Towards a standardized approach of assessing social context of persons receiving home care in Flanders, Belgium: the development and test of a social supplement to the interRAI instruments.

Background: Apart from a person's physical functioning, the early identification of social context indicators which affect patient outcomes - such as environmental and psychosocial issues - is key for high quality and comprehensive care at home. During a home care assessment, a person's biomedical and functional problems are typically considered. Harder to define concepts, such as psychosocial well-being or living arrangements, are not routinely documented, even though research shows they also affect functioning and health outcomes.