by Jennifer Parise

The researchers explored this issue - challenging behavior in older adults with intellectual disabilities – because of its importance to staff welfare and the need to provide the best care for these individuals. The authors particularly wanted to study the intra-individual change in staff-averse challenging behavior among older adults with intellectual disabilities. [read more...]

by Jennifer Parise

In a great deal of research a link was found between lead and declined cognitive function in children as well as adults who are exposed to it in work settings. Limited research however, has looked at this association – lead exposure and cognitive impairment – with an adult population in a non-occupational setting and for changes in cognitive performance over time. Doing so was the goal of this study. [read more...]

by Jennifer Parise

In this article, the authors focus on divorce and remarriage because it is assumed that divorce weakens the bonds between parent and child. This has important implications for later in life. As years pass, and these parents are aging, will their children (now adults) support them (financially or personally)? [read more...]

by Jennifer Parise

Although there has been much research examining play, it nevertheless seems that play is hard to define, especially for people beyond childhood. In fact, there has been only a little research concerning adult play, particularly among older women. [read more...]

by Jennifer Parise

This article conducted in-depth interviews of older women, examining the “downside” of relationships. When do friendships cause stress for older women, and how do they cope with it? [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

Older adults view more television than younger people do. Eighty-nine percent of older adults watch television daily and 64% of these individuals watch over 3 hours a day. Do older adults use television viewing as a way to cope with depression or to find out if they are depressed? This study suggests that some people do just that. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

This article discusses a real-world experiment that tested the Retention Specialist Program (RSP), which was designed to improve the retention of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in nursing homes. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

These researchers found that the performance on a series of cognitive tests could predict whether an older adult would be alive after four years. Individuals who died had performed poorly (four years previously) at baseline on several cognitive tests compared to their peers who remained alive. However, the reason why poorer cognition was linked to death remains a mystery. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

In this post, we report on a comprehensive review article (rather than an article on a single study) that pulled together literature on a very important topic: The search for early signs of dementia. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

This study examined “health-engagement control strategies” (HECS) which is a measure of how actively one engages in countering physical health problems. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

Is it more beneficial to one’s mental health to retire or continue working? There is evidence that working is good for older adults’ mental health. [read more...]

by Charlotte Sweeney

These researchers believed that social networks are associated with higher levels of physical and mental health, and therefore they created and strengthened neighborhood social networks to help sustain a walking regimen for older people. [read more...]

This creatively designed study by Andel and colleagues addressed some problems in previous research to shed new light on whether physical exercise in midlife helps prevent dementia 30 years later. [read more...]

by Karl Pillemer, Mark Lachs

There has been a lot of public attention to the issue of elder mistreatment in nursing homes, including governmental hearings and much press coverage over the past decade. Usually, “elder abuse” in nursing homes conjures up images of mistreatment by staff. It is likely, however, that another problem is much more common: aggression and violence among residents themselves. [read more...]

The research described here looked at the psychological effect on patients of being informed that they have dementia. [read more...]

by Karl Pillemer

Influenza is a contagious viral infection characterized by inflammation of the respiratory tract and by fever, chills, and muscular pain. It is a significant cause of incapacity and death of older people in the winter months. Complications are more common in older adults, who may need urgent hospitalization or substantial increases in home care. It is therefore important for older people to get the recommended influenza vaccination. But do they actually take advantage of the vaccination? [read more...]

Two studies have looked at older adults’ life satisfaction and depressed mood as indicators of psychological well-being. [read more...]

One possible explanation for the observed association between risk of fracture and depressive symptoms is the finding in some studies that depression is associated with lower bone mineral density (BMD). However, there is limited prospective data (that is, data collected over time) regarding an association between depressive symptoms and rate of change in BMD. [read more...]

In a recent study, Teno et al. examined the role of advance directives (ADs) on quality of end-of-life care. They found that advance directives improve the communication between the patient, family, and health professionals. [read more...]

The present study provides information whether older adults are obtaining disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. [read more...]

The following review article examines studies on genes that affect aging and discusses how genetic variation is associated with longevity. [read more...]

Providing care to a loved one with dementia and the death of that loved one are generally considered two of the most stressful human experiences. Each puts family caregivers at risk of psychological problems. Although research has suggested that religious beliefs and practices are associated with better mental health in older people, little is known about whether religion is associated with better mental health in family caregivers. [read more...]

Pillemer and Suitor examined whether mothers prefer some adult children over others, why they help some children and not others, and which child is most likely to become a caregiver. [read more...]

The degree to which the subject of suicide occupies the pages of aging research journals in this cycle reflects the reality that older adults are among those at highest risk of suicide. The five articles selected for this edition of the ART provide a picture of the current state of suicide among the aged, a description of the effect of suicide on the social workers who serve them, and an example of a promising intervention. [read more...]

In a similar vein as the Aging Research Translator, Sabir and colleagues describe another innovative new process for bridging the gap between research on aging and the practice community. Researchers have often come together in workshops to discuss research and to arrive at some shared statement of the direction of future research, however, these meetings have only included researchers. The workshop process described in this article includes researchers, a non-technical language version of the research, and members of the practice community. This mixed group of researchers, practitioners, and some policy analysts came together to discuss the issue of falls prevention among community-dwelling older adults in New York. [read more...]

The Journal of Applied Gerontology has published articles recently that focus on the evaluation of programs for older adults. Bryant and colleagues’ article in the June 2006 issue introduces the series with a definition of program evaluation and a statement of the state of program evaluation in aging. [read more...]

Wellmon and colleagues examined whether using a cane or walker for walking makes walking a more complex and mentally challenging task. [read more...]

Research in this section suggests that reducing disability may reduce depression, and that reducing depression is also a place to start in reducing older adults’ reports of poor health. Other research in this section suggests that counseling is often as effective as medication in reducing depression and that changing men’s and African-American’s attitudes about seeking mental health help is important. [read more...]

Cooperative health care allows different types of medical visits to occur in a single appointment and reduces both the time it takes to visit doctors and the costs of doing so. Supporters of this new practice hope that the ability to visit different types of doctors in a single visit might increase the likelihood that some adults will take advantage of otherwise unused kinds of care, such as mental health care. [read more...]

The articles in this section suggest that the best ways to assist caregivers may be to focus on the well-being of the older persons they care for; to focus their training on specific problems; to develop communication skills between the caregiver/care receiver pair; to offer telephone support, although this may be more beneficial to adult child caregivers than for spousal caregivers; and to better serve caregivers through adult day service programs. [read more...]