Increased health service utilization costs in the year prior to institutionalization: findings from the canadian study of health and aging.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to characterize patterns of formal health service utilization costs during older adults' transition from community to institutional care.

Methods: Participants were 127 adults (age ≥ 65) from the British Columbia sample (N = 2,057) of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging who transitioned from community to institutional care between 1991 and 2001. Health service utilization costs were measured using Cost-Per-Day-At-Risk at five time points: > 12 months, 6-12 months, and ≤ 6 months preinstitutionalization, and ≤ 6 months and 6-12 months postinstitutionalization.

Fear of death, mortality communication, and psychological distress among secular and religiously observant family caregivers of terminal cancer patients.

Previous research suggests that caregivers and terminally ill patients face substantial difficulties discussing illness and death. Existing research, however, has focused primarily on the experience of patients. The current study compared responses as well as the relative strength of association between mortality comunication, fear of death, and psychological distress (i.

Knowing me-knowing you: Reported personality and trait discrepancies as predictors of marital idealization between long-wed spouses.

In previous research, marital idealization has emerged as a significant predictor of adaptation to widowhood, the psychological well-being of spouses of persons with dementia, and the physical health of older married adults over time. Despite the adaptive value of marital idealization, conceptual confusion regarding this phenomenon persists. To this end, the present study examines the degree to which marital idealization is predicted by personality traits relative to partner perceptions of their spouse's personality, and discrepancies between self- vs.

Measurement and analysis of individualized care inventory responses comparing long-term care nurses and care aides.

Purpose: Motivating and enabling formal caregivers to provide individualized resident care has become an increasingly important objective in long-term care (LTC) facilities. The current study set out to examine the structure of responses to the individualized care inventory (ICI).

Design And Methods: Samples of 242 registered nurses (RNs)/licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and 326 care aides were recruited from 54 LTC facilities in 3 of 5 British Columbia health authorities.

The influence of care provider access to structural empowerment on individualized care in long-term-care facilities.

Objectives: Implementing management initiatives that enable formal caregivers to provide quality, individualized care to older adults in long-term-care (LTC) facilities is increasingly important given that the number of LTC residents is projected to triple by 2031. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between care provider access to structural empowerment and the provision of individualized care in LTC.

Methods: We computed structural equation models separately for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses (n = 242) and care aides (n = 326) to examine the relationship between access to empowerment structures (i.