Presents a historical perspective on the meaning of senility, representing a significant change in beliefs about the nature of old age. Before the nineteenth century, to be senile meant simply to be old. By the late nineteenth century, old age was assumed to be synonymous with debilitating illness. (JAC)

Evaluated the criterion validity of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (S. Mattis, 1988) with a concurrent study to obtain a cut-off score for an Argentinean population by administering a battery of tests to 60 memory disorder patients. Findings demonstrate high convergent validity with another measure and show an appropriate cut score for use with…

Dutch adults were divided into 4 groups: (1) 26 who remained worried about dementia after reading a brochure about it; (2) 51 whose worry decreased after reading; (3) 7 who started worrying after reading; and (4) 26 not worried before or after reading. Cognitive test batteries showed the effects of the brochure were not in accordance with its…

Compares cultural influences on caregiver burdens of Korean adult children and American adult children caring for parents with dementia. Identifies culturally specific values, norms, and customs associated with low or high burden. Findings show low burden for Korean caregivers and high burden for American caregivers. (MKA)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare adults with and without dementia on capacities to consent to treatment as assessed by three instruments. Design and Methods: Eighty-eight older adults with mild to moderate dementia were compared with 88 matched controls on four indices of legal competency to consent to medical treatment as…

This study evaluated the impact of an information and referral intervention designed to help family caregivers of people with dementia obtain needed health and human services. Caregivers (N = 608) of community-residing people with dementia were surveyed about their need for and use of community services. Of the 608 caregivers, 203 agreed to be…

Evidence from neurologically normal subjects suggests that repetition priming (RP) is independent of semantic processing. Therefore, we may expect patients with a selective deficit to conceptual knowledge to exhibit RP for words regardless of the integrity of their semantic representations. We tested six patients with semantic dementia (SD) on a…

In this comprehensively updated second edition, written by Alicia Ann Clair and Jenny Memmott the extraordinary benefits of music therapy for older adults are detailed. "Therapeutic Uses of Music with Older Adults" not only examines these benefits but also clarifies the reasons that music is beneficial. This important book shows both informal and…

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…

Background: The study of premature deaths in people with intellectual disability (ID) has become the focus of recent policy initiatives in England. This is the first UK population-based study to explore cause-specific mortality in adults with ID compared with the general population. Methods: Cause-specific standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) and…

Purpose: This article aims to review research measures and findings related to physical environments of assisted living (AL) according to multiple conceptual perspectives--ecological, cultural, and Maslovian hierarchy. Design and Methods: A literature and research review was undertaken with two foci: performance measures for physical environments,…

Patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) have calculation impairments. This study examined whether impaired number knowledge depends on verbal mediation. We focused particularly on knowledge of very small numbers, where there is a precise relationship between a cardinality and its number concept, but little hypothesized role for verbal…

This article details three examinations of communication impairment over 13 months in a man with AIDS dementia complex (ADC) and compares his performance on standardised language testing with that of two control participants. He had mild language impairments as measured on standardised tests but was severely impaired in pragmatic language skills.…

Purpose: To better understand the experiences and potential unmet need of persons who die in long-term care. Design and Methods: We conducted after-death interviews with staff who had cared for 422 decedents with dementia and 159 who were cognitively intact and received terminal care in U.S. nursing homes (NHs) or residential care-assisted living…

Provides information about correlates of disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents with dementia. Observation of a wide range of behaviors (N=45) across 11 months were analyzed. Findings suggest that cognitive status, but not health variables, predicts disruptive behavior among nursing home residents with dementia. (Author/MKA)