Purpose of the Study: Although considerable attention has been paid to the relationship between later-life depression and cognitive function, the relationship between a history of psychiatric problems and cognitive function is not very well documented. Few studies of relationships between childhood health, childhood disadvantage, and cognitive…

Purpose: The Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA) curriculum was developed as an adjunct to other educational initiatives that were part of Ontario, Canada's Alzheimer Strategy. GPA emphasizes that an individual's unique personal history has a direct application to the interpretation of and response to their behavior. It incorporates strategies into…

Examined resource data for services in North Carolina's continuum of care for older adults. Qualifies contention that older adults in urban areas receive greater number and more varied services than rural counterparts. Demonstrated that important difference between rural and urban communities was greater variability of services among rural…

Surveyed agency-assisted shared housing programs and interviewed clients of one program. Developed two typologies, one of programs and one of matches. Found independent matches, characterized by social distance, were likely to be dominant type created by housing-oriented programs; dependent matches, characterized by intimacy, were more likely to…

Surveyed state and local health planning agencies and Older Americans Act agencies. Found that coordination between aging and health planning agencies is directly associated with the level of attention given to long-term care priorities by the latter agencies. Findings suggest that coordination strategies may be important for policy change.…

Examined differences among nursing homes in rates at which they transfer patients to hospitals. Data from nursing staff and charts on 286 most recent transfers from 10 nursing homes revealed that, from relatively equivalent patient populations, high-rate facilities transferred more chronically ill, physically frail patients and patients with…

Examined the relationship between sources of information and service utilization, based on household interviews of 706 older adults. Information about services obtained through formal sources was the best predictor of service utilization. Most respondents, however, learned of services primarily through the media or through informal sources.…

Describes variations in case management approaches based on a national evaluation of Medicaid 1115 and Medicare 222 community-based care demonstrations. Presents the costs of producing case management services for selected programs. Less professionalization and less specialization of case management functions are associated with lower service…

Examines effect on the elderly of legislative changes in federal benefit programs. Notes that programs which the elderly rely on have been reduced less than those serving non-elderly, and cuts affecting the elderly are concentrated among those with 1982 incomes between $10,000 and $20,000--households above official poverty lines. (Author/NRB)

Designed program using variety of engagement techniques and service components for homeless and marginally housed elderly. Clients (n=132) averaged three favorable outcomes. Service delivery was conceptualized as three-stage process based on differential effects of variables at each stage. Strongest predictors of outcome were number of service…

Conducted interviews with 54 home care clients (over half of whom were age 60+) and their home health aides and personal care attendants. Interviews revealed home care relationships tended to be both formal and informal, in that job responsibilities tend to be diffusely defined and home care workers often became involved in the…

Assesses applied relevance of research on home care, reviewing literature on predictors of use of home care services, experience of receiving home care, and efficacy studies. Notes that efficacy studies have not concluded that home care is less costly or better for quality of life of older adults when compared with institutional care. (Author/NB)

Architects, environmental designers, occupational therapists, and human service professionals are variously engaged in efforts to create settings for older persons that better fit their changing lifestyles and abilities. This theoretical article argues that to explain and predict more effectively the appropriateness of the settings occupied and…

Used data from 1982-84 National Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration to examine factors associated with long-term care service use by African American, Hispanic, and white frail elders living in community. Findings indicated that, in addition to predisposing, enabling, and need factors, race/ethnicity was significant predictor of each type of…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore how medical care is delivered to older people in assisted living (AL) settings and to suggest ways for improving it. Design and Methods: We present a review of the limited research available on health care for older AL residents and on building testable models of better ways to organize primary…