Mental wellbeing and independence for older people
Source: NICE
This quality standard covers interventions to maintain and improve the mental wellbeing and independence of people aged 65 or older, and how to identify those at risk of a decline. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement. It does not cover the mental wellbeing and independence of people who live in a care home or attend one on a day-only basis.
read moreEvaluation of an Intervention to Prevent Falls
Source: RAND Corporation
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked the RAND Corporation to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to prevent falls in the elderly, with a particular focus on fall-related injuries and on health care costs.
Researchers linked data collected during a randomized trial to Medicare enrollment and claims files to compare health care costs and the frequency of fall-related emergency department (ED) visits between treatment and control groups. Using claims from both before and after trial enrollment, they adjusted for baseline differences and used intention-to-treat analyses, thereby overcoming limitations inherent in the outcome data collected during the trial.
read moreThe Missing Million: A practical guide to identifying and talking about loneliness
Source: Campaign to End Loneliness
There are an estimated one million, one hundred thousand people aged 65 and over who are chronically lonely. They are difficult to find. A new practical guide,The Missing Million: A Practical Guide to Identifying and Talking About Loneliness, provides guidance on how to find the loneliest in our communities.
read moreDevelopment of a Communication Intervention for Older Adults With Limited Health Literacy: Photo Stories to Support Doctor–Patient Communication
Source: Journal of Health Communication
Successful doctor–patient communication relies on appropriate levels of communicative health literacy, the ability to deal with and communicate about health information. This article aims to describe the development of a narrative and picture-based health literacy intervention intended to support older patients with limited health literacy when communicating during their primary care consultations.
The authors conclude that narrative health communication may be an effective strategy for increasing the effectiveness of communicative health literacy interventions and decreasing resistance to messages.
read moreCall for Abstracts – 2017 AAG Conference
AAG is hosting its 50th Conference in Perth, Western Australia from Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th November 2017.
The theme for the 2017 Conference is “Ageing: The Golden Opportunity”.
The Call for Abstracts is open until 21 April – do not miss this powerful opportunity to share and gain recognition of your expertise, research and projects among fellow gerontology peers and colleagues and be part of the premier multidisciplinary conference in Ageing in Australasia.
Click here to submit and to view the call for abstracts help sheet
read moreChanging risk behaviours and promoting cognitive health in older adults
Source: Public Health England
This resource is intended for local authority and clinical commissioning groups to identify what types of interventions they should focus on to help the uptake and maintenance of healthy behaviours and promote cognitive health among older adults living in the community.
It is also intended for providers of lifestyle behaviour change programmes to support the development of evidence-informed prevention packages for older adults.
It is produced in a way that makes it accessible to public health managers and practitioners working in the public, private and third sector.
read moreAttitudes to dementia – Findings from the 2015 British Social Attitudes survey
Source: British Social Attitudes
Just 2% of people in Britain can identify all the health and lifestyle factors that can increase the risk of developing dementia.
28% of the British public is unable to correctly identify any potentially modifiable risk factor for developing dementia, according to the findings from the British Social Attitudes Survey commissioned by Public Health England.
The survey, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, asked the public if they could identify the following risk factors: heavy drinking, smoking, high blood pressure, depression and diabetes as well as the protective factor of taking regular exercise.
read moreSmallest worthwhile effect of exercise programs to prevent falls among older people: Estimates from benefit–harm trade-off and discrete choice methods
Source: Oxford Journals
In this study, the authors estimate the smallest worthwhile effect (SWE) of exercise programmes designed to prevent falls among older people and compare estimates derived by two methodological approaches.
read moreKeeping older people active discussion paper
Source: beehive.govt.nz
Sport and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman welcomes the release of a discussion document that focuses on supporting older people to stay active.
“If we want New Zealanders to remain active in their later years we have to ensure we’re offering them the right opportunities,” says Dr Coleman.
“Being physically active has many benefits for older people including enhanced social integration, reduced health and social care costs, prevention of injury such as falls, and also improved productivity.
read moreDecline in falls and broken hips a success story for New Zealand health care
Source: Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand
The Health Quality & Safety Commission is celebrating the success of New Zealand public hospitals in reducing the number of in-hospital falls that result in a broken hip. New Zealand appears to be the first country to achieve this on a national scale.
A paper published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today highlights a sector-wide commitment to preventing harm and in reducing the number of falls resulting in serious harm in New Zealand.
read more