Aging & Mental Health

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with engagement in meaningful activity among residents with dementia in assisted living. We hypothesized that greater functional independence, less pain, and lower behavioral and psychological symptom severity would be associated with higher engagement in meaningful activity after controlling for residents' age, gender, comorbidities, and cognition. Understanding factors associated with engagement in meaningful activity can help to inform strategies for optimizing engagement among residents with dementia in assisted living...

OBJECTIVES: Mental and cognitive health is crucial to ensure well-being in older age. However, prolonged periods of stress, grief, and bereavement might compromise mental health balance, leading to profound changes. This study investigated the sex-stratified associations between midlife bereavement experiences (e.g. sibling loss, spousal loss, and multiple losses) and late-life depression (LLD) and cognitive impairment. METHOD: Linked data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey and the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were used...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify and evaluate psychological interventions or strategies designed to reduce relocation stress in older people making the permanent transition into residential aged care. METHOD: A scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was conducted. An electronic search of nine databases and the search engine google scholar was completed in December 2022...

OBJECTIVES: This research study aimed to discover how dementia affecting older people was perceived, experienced, and managed by stakeholders in the Pacific Island country of Fiji. METHOD: A transformational grounded theory approach was used. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in the major towns of Suva, Lautoka, and Nadi were carried out. Transcripts were analysed in line with transformational grounded theory methods. RESULTS: A total of 50 participants (40 service providers, eight family caregivers, one person with dementia, and one village elder) shared their views and experiences about dementia...

OBJECTIVES: This scoping review presents an overview of the available research on symptoms, comorbidities, and associated challenges among older adults with ADHD. METHOD: The literature study followed Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework. The search was conducted in ProQuest Central, Scopus, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and PubMed. Articles were included if they were peer-reviewed, ethically approved primary studies, written in the English language, concerning ADHD, and including people 60 years of age and older...

OBJECTIVES: The study examined the possibility that a mediating role of positive and negative emotional expressivity may contribute to understanding the associations between social loneliness and its previously identified predictors (i.e. health, age, sex, and social living situation). METHOD: Self-reported assessments were collected from community-dwelling Swedish residents (aged 65 and above) in job retirement. Structural equation modeling with manifest variables was applied to cross-sectional data ( N  = 601) to analyze two competing models; one main-effect regression model, examining the predictive effect of emotional expressivity (along with health and sociodemographics) on social loneliness, and one mediation model, examining the mediating effect of emotional expressivity (using the bootstrapping technique provided in Mplus)...

OBJECTIVES: Older-adult migrants constitute a proportion of the global population, and loneliness hinders their adaptation to host areas. However, review studies on risk factors for loneliness target general older-adults without focusing on older-adult migrants. Therefore, this study systematically reviews and synthesizes the factors influencing the loneliness of older-adult migrants. METHOD: Five databases were searched and screened for quantitative studies investigating the relationship between risk factors and loneliness among older-adult migrants (over age 50)...

OBJECTIVES: The current study uses longitudinal data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) to assess the effects of antipsychotic medication use on changes in cognitive functioning among adults in the United States. METHODS: Linear mixed models were conducted that included study visits, days between visits, sex, age, education, and medical history (i.e. diabetes, seizures, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Parkinson's disease). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) was used to create variables assessing changes in psychotic symptoms, manic symptoms, and agitation/disinhibition...

OBJECTIVES: Up to 60% of people with dementia living in care homes will 'wander' at some point, which has typically been seen by staff as a problematic behaviour. A range of non-pharmacological interventions have been tested to either support or prevent wandering. However, even recent innovative practice continues to maintain a focus on reducing or preventing wandering. This study aimed to identify, for the first time, care home staff perspectives on home level factors that facilitate or hinder them supporting residents to wander safely...

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether dementia is an independent predictor of death after a hospital emergency department (ED) visit by older adults with or without a COVID-19 diagnosis during the first pandemic wave. METHOD: We used data from the EDEN-Covid (Emergency Department and Elderly Needs during Covid) cohort formed by all patients ≥65 years seen in 52 Spanish EDs from March 30 to April 5, 2020. The association of prior history of dementia with mortality at 30, 180 and 365 d was evaluated in the overall sample and according to a COVID-19 or non COVID diagnosis...

OBJECTIVES: Previous research has noted that a person-centered approach to financial capacity assessment is feasible. This study of personal finance included a review of 12 months of checking account statements followed by research interviews to investigate income, spending, financial literacy, and financial decision-making. The objective of the study was to determine the convergent validity of excess spending to contextual aspects of financial decision-making, financial literacy, and early memory loss...

OBJECTIVES: This study, based on socioemotional selectivity theory and cognitive theory, investigates the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between perceived discrimination and cognitive function in later life. METHODS: Data were drawn from four waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018). A total of 4,125 people who were 51 and older were included. Cognitive function was measured by the telephone interview for cognitive status (TICS-27)...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations of two measures of minority stress, non-affirmation minority stress and internalized transphobia, with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) veterans. METHOD: We administered a cross-sectional survey from September 2022 to July 2023 to TGD veterans. The final analytic sample included 3,152 TGD veterans aged ≥45 years. We used a generalized linear model with quasi-Poisson distribution to calculate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) measuring the relationship between non-affirmation minority stress and internalized transphobia and past-year SCD...

OBJECTIVES: The built environment is increasingly recognized as being associated with late-life loneliness. However, the pathway remains understudied. This study investigated the mediating effects of productive engagement in relationships between the built environment and loneliness. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from 4,409 community-dwelling people aged 65 years and above in China. We employed the Chinese version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale to assess loneliness...

Objectives: Dimensions of religion and spirituality are associated with better emotional, physical, and cognitive health. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not well known. We investigated the relationship between dimensions of religion and spirituality with levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of systematic inflammation, in middle-aged and older adults in the United States. Methods: In this descriptive longitudinal study using secondary data, we used proportional odds models of the generalized estimating equation (GEE) to assess the association between religious beliefs and values and religious service attendance with CRP levels from respondents ( n  = 2,385) aged 50 years and older in the Health and Retirement Study from 2006 to 2014...

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to (1) identify the percentage of high-risk substance use or substance use disorder (SUD) and (2) examine the factors associated with high-risk substance use or SUD in adults aged 50 years and older receiving mental health treatment with a primary delirium or dementia diagnosis. METHOD: This study used 7 years (2013-2019) of national administrative data on community mental health center patients aged 50 years and older with a primary delirium or dementia diagnosis receiving treatment in the United States (U...

OBJECTIVES: Both anger and anxiety are common in older adulthood, with aversive consequences for individuals' physical and mental health. Theory suggests that anger can be an emotional response to the experience of anxiety. Similarly, anger can induce anxiety symptoms. Despite studies documenting the co-occurrence of anger and anxiety and their strong theoretical links, little is known about their temporal relationship. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal cross-lagged relationship between anger expression, anger suppression, and anxiety...

OBJECTIVES: Despite expanding knowledge about the internal and external resources that contribute to resilience among individuals who have experienced depression, the long-term accessibility and protectiveness of these resources across different stressors is unknown. We investigated whether and how the resilience resources of individuals who previously recovered from late-life depression remained protective during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design...

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the association between elder abuse and depressive symptoms, as well as protective factors against adverse mental health outcomes from elder abuse. METHODS: Participants were drawn from the 5928 graduates of the WLS, Wave 3 study (age range 70-73) who completed both in-person and telephone interviews. From this large group, 975 (16.4%) participants reported having experienced elder abuse and were included in the sample. Path analysis using Mplus was employed...

OBJECTIVES: Research has extensively examined spousal caregiving in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it remains unclear how people with AD help spousal caregivers. We aimed to describe emotional and practical support that people with AD and their spouses provide to each other and test the role their empathy plays in these support experiences. METHODS: Seventy-two people with early-stage AD and their spousal caregivers independently reported empathy (personal distress, empathic concern, perspective taking) and the frequency and appraisal of support provision...