How Caregiver Support Can Combat Rising Stress Levels We all know that caregiving for a loved one can be stressful, but it seems that caregivers may be feeling the strain more than ever before. Nearly two-thirds of family and friend caregivers consider their situation to be moderately-to-highly stressful, according to the recently released Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 report from National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Read more
5 Tactics to Help Improve Your Home Health CAHPS Rating There’s a reason that positive customer reviews are very important to home health agencies—many households seeking in-home health care services rely on published accounts to guide them in selecting the agency they feel will be the best fit for their situation. Read more
Time is Precious for Family and Friend Caregivers—How Care Coaching Can Help When you consider that 60 percent of family/friend caregivers are employed outside the home, the time drain on daily life can be extraordinary, leading to stress, strain in family relationships and unmet needs for both the caregiver and the older adult needing assistance. That’s why Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging developed BRI Care Consultation™. It’s an evidence-based care-coaching program specifically designed to work with both the family or friend caregiver and the person with a chronic condition to identify ways to better manage ongoing care. Read more
Update on the status of effective programs to help dementia family caregivers in the U.S.: Observations from the search for programs to include in Best Practice Caregiving Although many programs to help family caregivers of people with dementia have research-based evidence of effectiveness, they are not available in most US communities and caregivers have difficulty finding the kinds of assistance they need. One reason for this problem is that healthcare and community organizations as well as funders that might provide or pay for one or more programs are not aware of them. Until now, there was no readily accessible source of information providers or funders could use to select programs that fit their organizations’ mission and resources. Best Practice Caregiving, a free, searchable database of comprehensive information about effective and feasible programs was released in early 2020. In this chapter, we describe our search for programs to include in Best Practice Caregiving, discuss our resulting observations about the current status of such programs in the United States, and identify several difficult issues that continue to interfere with increased awareness, availability, and use of the caregiver support programs. Read more
Furthering an Age-Friendly America The 14th Annual Katz Policy Lecture from Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging was held October 29, 2020. Keynote speakers, Bill Armbruster, Senior Advisor of AARP Livable Communities, and Mary McNamara, Director of the Cleveland Department of Aging, discussed age-friendly communities, including work developing nationally and in the Cleveland-area. The webinar introduced the Age-Friendly Network, outlined the importance of age-friendly communities to support individuals aging in place, and discussed the connection between age-friendly and dementia-friendly communities. Panelists discussed ongoing work and future directions to make Northeast Ohio age-friendly. Read more
A dyadic perspective on assessment in Alzheimer’s dementia: Supporting both care partners across the disease continuum. Written from a dyadic strength‐based perspective, this article first provides a brief overview of the Education, Information, and Support section of the 2018 Alzheimer's Disease Dementia Care Practice Recommendations.1 Subsequent sections present a comprehensive overview of available valid and reliable psychosocial measures that assess a selection of important domains for dementia care planning that can be used by families from early stage until end‐of‐life. Measures selected for the purposes of this article will focus on concepts that are strength‐based and most relevant to care dyads as they navigate the difficult disease trajectory: readiness, knowledge, coping, dyadic relationship, care values and preferences. We will also highlight measures that have traditionally targeted the family care partner but can potentially be considered for use with the care partner with dementia, with adjustments, beyond the early stages. Part of this discussion will include various strategies for including persons with dementia in all aspects of their own care using a strength‐based perspective, potentially enabling them to answer questions more reliably across disease stages. Last, gaps in existing measures will be identified to provide options to better assess areas of need most meaningful to families, and in ways that positively contribute to the successful aging of those living with dementia and their care partners. Read more
Community Eldercare Ecology in China Informed by the social-ecological framework, this book focuses on the development of Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) in urban China. Bringing a timely discussion around HCBS development in Shanghai, it presents an interplay of formal caregiving relationships, evolving caregiving culture, and the trajectory of long-term care in China. Drawing on surveys, in-depth interviews, and government archives, this book explores the emergence of one of the most developed HCBS programs in Shanghai, its development over the past decade, its administration and services, resource allocation, staff members’ work experiences, older adults’ service experiences, as well as service evaluation and improvements. Offering fresh insight into new forms of caregiving in community settings, and shaping a new discourse on caregiving policy, this book is a key read for both students and practitioners in the fields of long-term care, gerontology, geriatrics, health care, and health policy. Read more
Sunday Self Care with David Bass Dr. David Bass, Senior Vice President, Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, discusses resources for older adults and caregivers with Rabbi Brown of Temple Israel Akron. Read more
A Novel Intervention to Identify and Report Suspected Abuse in Older, Primary Care Patients Previous research has identified several barriers faced by clinicians in detecting and reporting elder abuse, such as lack of knowledge about the process to report suspected cases of abuse and lack of access to experts to consult with. A novel intervention was designed and tested that embedded two Adult Protective Services (APS) specialists in a healthcare system operating primary care clinics serving a large Medicare population. Read more
Training Senior Volunteers to Implement a Group Music Intervention For Persons With Dementia The Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is a national program with many regional offices that offers a variety of volunteer opportunities for seniors. Research demonstrates the importance of volunteering and social participation on the well-being, health and longevity of older individuals. Further, studies of RSVP volunteers have demonstrated marked improvement in their perceived physical, mental health and quality of life (McDonald et al., 2013). Little evidence exists, however, supporting the effectiveness of using senior volunteers to assist with or even lead activities programming for persons with dementia (PWDs). Seniors Making Connections through Music, a group program designed to engage persons in the moderate to advance stages of dementia, included the training of 21 RSVP volunteers to lead or assist with the program. Volunteers were mostly female (95%) and educated (80% college/advanced degree), with more than half reporting professional or personal experiences with dementia (62%). Data were gathered through structured interviews and post-session debrief meetings. Findings suggest volunteers felt they were able to use existing knowledge and experience, received good and helpful supervision, and reported increased knowledge of dementia after volunteering for the group. Other results summarize: Volunteer satisfaction with program, role, tools and materials used, the program’s impact on the community, and willingness to volunteer for the program in the future. Programmatic features, training protocols, and the impact of using retired senior volunteers to strengthen program sustainability will be discussed. Volunteer testimonials and video demonstrations will also be shared. Read more
