International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jan 2004
Poor mental and physical health differentially contributes to disability in hospitalized geriatric patients of different ages.
To evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms, cognition and somatic diseases on functional status of geriatric patients at hospital discharge. ⋯ Functional disability after acute hospitalization is highly prevalent in geriatric patients. Depressive symptoms, comorbidity, and cognitive impairment often coexist, interact and are differentially associated with function depending on age. Considering that depressive symptoms are a modifiable problem, their detection in hospital settings may help clinicians in targeting subjects at high risk of functional disability.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Sep 2003
Multicenter StudyThe needs of older people with mental health problems according to the user, the carer, and the staff.
Individual assessment of needs has been recognised as the most appropriate way to allocate health and social care resources. These assessments, however, are often made by the staff or by a carer who acts as an advocate for the user themselves. Little is known about how these proxy measures compare to how individual patients perceive their own needs. ⋯ User perspectives should be given a high priority when assessing individual needs. Fears that assessment of need would be unduly time-consuming or would simply reflect individual demands should be allayed. A user-based assessment will assist healthcare providers to prioritise needs according to what the user themselves consider to be most important, beneficial, and acceptable to them. Reliance solely on assessment by staff or carers may not lead to the most equitable or appropriate use of services.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Sep 2003
Acceptance of dementia screening in continuous care retirement communities: a mailed survey.
In a recent systematic review of the evidence for dementia screening to support recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force, we found no evidence regarding the interest or willingness of older adults to be screened, and insufficient evidence to provide an estimate of the potential harms of dementia screening. ⋯ Approximately half of the residents in this affluent residential community setting were not willing to be screened routinely for memory problems. This high refusal rate indicates that dementia screening may be associated with perceived harms. We must improve our understanding of the decision-making process driving individual's beliefs and behaviors about dementia screening before implementing any broad-based screening initiatives for dementia or cognitive impairment.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Aug 2003
Gender, kinship and caregiver burden: the case of community-dwelling memory impaired seniors.
This study examined whether there were gender and kinship (spouse, child, more distant relative) differences in caregiver burden. It further examined the constellation of gender and kinship by examining whether adult daughter caregivers experienced greater burden compared to wives, husbands, sons, and other more distant relatives. ⋯ The study discusses the practice implications of adult children and adult daughters' propensity to suffer burden when caring for their memory-impaired parents living in the community. It also discusses the relevance of caregiver personal characteristics and the sense of coherence as correlates of burden.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Aug 2003
A UK survey of psychiatric services for older people in general hospitals.
Psychiatric illness is common in older people in general hospitals, but little is known of the service models operating in the UK, or of the views of old age psychiatrists regarding service provision in this area. We set out to determine the range of UK old age psychiatry service models for older people in general hospital wards, and the opinions of clinicians on future service priorities and development. ⋯ The management of co-morbid psychiatric and physical illness in older people is an important issue for health services. Old age psychiatrists are unhappy with the prevalent, reactive, consultation-based model, preferring a range of liaison psychiatry models based in the general hospital. The most important barriers to service development in this area were the separate managerial arrangements for psychiatric and physical care services, and a lack of evidence for effective old age psychiatry services in this setting.